Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to House. I know that in the past he was unable to attend here due to work reasons and I thank him very much for coming here this morning.

I rise today to raise the issue of the 50 m swimming pool in the University of Limerick and the fact that the Munster swimming team has no place to practice at the moment. The team is being disenfranchised when compared with the Connacht, Ulster and Leinster teams. The Leinster team practices at the National Aquatic Centre and the other teams have access to 50 m pools. In fact, there are only two other 50 m pools in the country, one is located at UCD and the other is located at the National Aquatic Centre.

The pool at the University of Limerick caters to the Munster swimming squad. I know one small part of the pool is missing but other parts must be replaced in order to solve the original problem. There is also quite a cost involved to replace the missing part. It is all about moving the floor. Unfortunately, no competitions could be held in the pool since around October and no repairs have happened to date. I ask the Minister of State to release funding and to take the case on board. A number of teams covering all ages have been disenfranchised by the closure. Recently the Munster national swimming competition had to be cancelled because the pool was not in working order.

I again thank the Minister of State for coming here and I look forward to hearing what he has to say.