Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister probably knows, Fingal is the fastest growing county in Ireland and north Fingal is the fastest growing area within it. North Fingal includes Balbriggan, Balrothery, Skerries, Naul, Rush, Lusk, Garristown, Oldtown, Donabate and Portrane. The area has a rapidly expanding population and substantial future growth is planned. To give an idea of the size of the towns involved, Balbriggan has a population of approximately 26,000 and Rush currently has a population of approximately 10,000. As I have said, there are also future plans for the area and, as I have also outlined, the demographic is young.

There is no swimming pool in the north Fingal area. The children of north Fingal cannot readily avail of swimming lessons, which are now seen as almost a standard part of the school curriculum. They cannot avail of something as basic as swimming lessons without having to travel long distances and incur the additional costs of that travel. Children with autism and ADHD particularly benefit from water-based therapies but unfortunately the distances such children would have to travel from north Fingal in order to avail of such therapies in a swimming pool would negate any benefit they might derive from them. Older people can also derive great health and social benefits from access to a swimming pool within their community.

Plans for a swimming pool for north Fingal stretch back to the year 2000 when a swimming pool for Skerries was planned through Fingal County Council, which applied for the local authority swimming pool programme administered through the Minister's Department. When these plans fell through Fingal County Council put forward a plan for construction of a swimming pool in conjunction with Balbriggan Rugby Football Club in Balrothery. These plans ultimately fell through and in January 2016 Fingal County Council voluntarily withdrew from the local authority swimming pool programme. I raised the need for a swimming pool in the area by way of Commencement matter on 9 May 2017. I was told by the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, who attended the Chamber on that date that it was now open to Fingal County Council to apply for a sports grant which is capped at €500,000 due to its withdrawal from the local authority swimming pool programme.This is significantly less than the €3.8 million per project which was available under the previous local authority swimming pool programme. I was told on that occasion that the future funding of swimming pools was being examined by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport as part of a review of national sports policy which was to have a particular focus on how sporting facilities are to be funded into the future. I was advised that the Department was in the process of making a submission under the mid-term capital review to seek additional funding for large-scale sports infrastructure like swimming pools. I was told that if this funding was received, it would allow the Department to give further consideration to new projects like swimming pools, thereby allowing county councils to submit plans for such projects.

I would like to know what the outcome of the review of national sports policy was, particularly insofar as it related to the construction of swimming pools. I would like to know whether the Department has received additional funding under the mid-term capital review plan. If so, has a new programme been established? I emphasise the urgent need for a swimming pool in the northern part of Fingal, especially in light of the demographics of the area and the lack of facilities to match the housing that has been built in the area in recent years and the housing that is planned for the future. We should not pile houses into an area without providing adequate facilities for the community. The people of Balbriggan recently came together to form a committee to press for the development of a swimming pool. This is an expression of the level of public support and demand for a swimming pool in north Fingal. I would appreciate it if the Minister could address the specific points I have raised with regard to this issue.