Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

I have raised with the Minister of State previously the need for a publicly owned swimming pool in Loughrea, County Galway. As he will be aware, this is something the community in Loughrea has been seeking for a very long time, more than 30 years at this stage. There is a new committee to work on this in place in Loughrea and I am pleased to be part of it. It is making great efforts to progress this. There is work ongoing to get a feasibility study completed and to move things along so that a funding application can be made down the line. There is a huge need for this in Loughrea. It is a growing town with a population of over 6,000 people and a large rural hinterland. Of course, a project like this would bring huge benefits to everybody in the community, particularly children, older people and people with a disability.

The challenge will be to get this project shovel-ready and in a position to access capital funding. Significant funding is needed for the initial stages of project development because, as it stands, the LSSIF requires a huge contribution from the local authority and does not assist with project development, the purchase of a site and so on. As I have raised with the Minister of State previously, that is a particular challenge in County Galway because our local authority has serious funding issues. Galway County Council has made a specific request to the Government for €3 million to assist it in developing proposals for swimming pools. I ask the Minister of State to consider this request and to take into account the funding issues experienced by local authorities like Galway County Council when he is designing the next round of this scheme. The people of Loughrea and surrounding areas cannot miss out on a facility like this because of Galway County Council's underfunding. They are entitled to the same level of facilities as people elsewhere.

I also ask the Minister of State to ensure that funding is provided for League of Ireland academies in next week's budget. This is vital to protect the game in this country and to realise its full potential.

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