Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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15. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the steps that Monaghan County Council should take to secure funding for a swimming pool in Carrickmacross. [10204/25]

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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49. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht what assistance his Department can provide to support the development of public swimming pools in towns such as Loughrea, County Galway, where there is a need for such facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8895/25]

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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What support can the Minister of State and his Department provide to support the development of public swimming pools, particularly in the town of Loughrea in my constituency? The Minister of State might be aware that there have been efforts for some time to develop a public swimming pool there but there are challenges with funding to get this project off the ground.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 49 together.

I congratulate Deputy O'Hara on his election and thank him for the question. I know there is a similar question about Carrickmacross from Deputy Carthy. My Department operates two capital funding programmes for sport, the community sports facilities fund, formerly known as the sports capital and equipment fund, and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. Capital support for new swimming pools is now provided through the LSSIF. Projects for new swimming pools and the refurbishment of existing swimming pools are eligible to apply for grant funding under the LSSIF subject to the published guidelines and conditions of the scheme. While the scheme is aimed primarily at national governing bodies, NGBs, and local authorities, it is also open to other bodies, including third level institutions, philanthropic funders, clubs and voluntary organisations to apply but such applications would necessarily have to be made and prioritised by a local authority or an NGB.

The total investment from the large scale sport infrastructure fund since 2020 amounts to €297 million, with 68 projects receiving funding allocations, including nine swimming pool projects. The second round of the LSSIF, which commenced in April 2024, received an unprecedented demand for funding, amounting to €665 million from 96 different applications. In November 2024, grants totalling €173 million were announced, benefiting 35 individual projects, so 35 of the 96 which applied were funded through that. It is noted that no application was received for Loughrea swimming pool, although I know there has been local discussion about it. A number of representations have come in from the local area and from Government representatives about the potential for a swimming pool there. I encourage any prospective applicants to review the scheme guidelines and key priorities included as part of the 2024 round of LSSIF as part of their preparatory process for a future LSSIF round. These documents are readily accessible on the Department's website. It is important to note that while those resources can serve as a helpful reference, any new guidelines and conditions associated with a future round of the programme may differ from the previous round.

Ireland's first national swimming strategy was published in August last year and sets out a vision to provide everyone in our country with an opportunity to swim. Its publication follows commitments made under the National Sports Policy 2018-2027 and the Sports Action Plan 2021-2023. A key focus of the policy is on providing improved facilities. Swim Ireland, as the national governing body for swimming, is currently undertaking an analysis of the type and nature of swimming pool ownership in the country and will publish a report outlining this in the coming period. This report will be central to the future development of swimming pool facilities. Regarding a new round of the LSSIF, I am committed to ensuring sustained investment in sports facilities to meet our ambitious goals for sports participation nationwide. The programme for Government commits to maintaining sports funding to get more people participating in all levels of sport, particularly targeting cohorts in society where there are lower than average participation levels, including people with disabilities and older people.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State. There is a huge need for this in Loughrea. There is no pool within 25 km of the town. The town itself has a population of 6,500, with a further 15,000 or so people in the hinterland. There are five schools in the town and many children who cannot access swimming facilities on an ongoing basis. We know all the health and wellbeing benefits that this kind of project can bring to people with disabilities, the elderly and everybody in the community. There are specific challenges for the swimming pool committee in Loughrea in accessing funding to get a project like this up and running. Significant funding is needed for the initial stages of project development. As it stands, the LSSIF requires a huge contribution from the local authority and it does not assist with project development. That is a particular challenge in County Galway because our local authority has serious funding issues. The Government has consistently underfunded our council. Will this be looked at and will a specific funding stream for pools be considered? A total of 35 out of 96 is not sufficient for the demand in our communities.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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It is important that there is engagement locally and that the Deputy works with the local authority in Galway about how this can be stepped out. I know there was a recent meeting about it. I have been speaking with Senators Curley and Rabbitte and Deputy Dolan about it. It is important to engage with the local authority in its capacity to work with the local community to develop the project, and with Swim Ireland too, and to see the capacity of the local authority to help to step it out. A trend I have seen is that Opposition parties often put questions about the capacity of local authorities to do new initiatives, while at the same time, Opposition politicians take steps in local authorities not to take steps on local authority rates and the property tax, for example, which would give them the capacity to bring forward projects in the local area. That needs to be considered locally to give the capacity to bring projects forward. The Government will look to step out further funding to see swimming pools and other sports facilities developed under the LSSIF.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister of State's willingness to engage with the local authority. Galway County Council has asked Government for support of €3 million to assist it in developing proposals for swimming pools, including project development, site design, and planning permission, to put it in a position to access capital funding. Will that be considered? Can that form part of the Minister of State's discussions with the county council? Like I said, Galway County Council is a particular case and raising the local property tax will not address the significant funding challenges that we have. On a bigger scale, we know that money is available. Investing in the health and wellbeing of our communities is a worthwhile investment. I ask the Minister of State to look at the specific case in Loughrea, to take the funding issues that the council has into account and to engage with it on that request for €3 million for development of facilities.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Comhghairdeas leis an hAirí agus ádh mór leo. The Minister of State spoke about LSSIF funding for those preparing for 2024. Is he speaking about those applications that are already in, such as from Drogheda United and Louth GAA regarding stadium builds which are on the reserve list? When will funding open again? I think this was meant to be an ongoing process because Dundalk F.C. was in a different circumstance at that stage. We know we need huge money for Oriel Park. That is about sustainability. I spoke to the Minister of State before about the issue of sports capital and Clann Naofa Boxing Club. It believes its application was lost. I will get the detail to the Minister of State. Could we find out what exactly happened? There was no contact with the club during the appeals process.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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No application was received from Loughrea as part of the LSSIF funding round. It is important, in advance of the next round of LSSIF, the date of which we have not decided yet, that there is engagement at local level about how that project can step forward, working with Galway County Council.

It is not currently open. What we are doing is compiling a reserve list for all of those applications that did not get funding under the most recent LSSIF. As I said, there was €665 million worth of applications and only €173 million of those could be funded, so it was more than three times oversubscribed. A reserve list is being compiled for those and, unlike the position with the sports capital grants, there is a reserve list for the large-scale projects. It is important that at local level, working with Galway County Council and Swim Ireland where appropriate, the preparatory steps are put in place to ensure that, when the LSSIF reopens, it allows for applications to be made.

In response to Deputy Ó Murchú, there is no timeline for a new round yet but a reserve list will be compiled of some of those that were not successful in the most recent round.