John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Normality has returned with children now being able to play outside and play sports so when will swimming lessons for children resume in the Republic of Ireland?

Last night, I spoke to the manager of the Aura Leisure Swimming Pool in Dundalk who outlined a couple of things and it is not until one thinks about these things that one realises they make perfect sense. Perhaps, as a Government, we should consider the nuances of re-opening and my rationale is as follows. First, numerous scientific studies have identified that the Covid virus is killed within 20 seconds in a swimming pool facility due to the chemical disinfectants in the water. Second, modern swimming pools due to having high humidity have ventilation systems that provide a total of ten complete air changes per hour. So at a time when discussions are taking place about a resumption of indoor dining it needs to be noted that swimming pools are one of the much safer indoor environments in terms of sporting activities. Swimming pools are a part of the debate that has been missing in recent weeks.

I have spoken previously in this House about cross-Border trade and travel but now there is cross-Border swimming as swimming lessons became available in Northern Ireland yesterday. Swimming lessons are usually offered in blocks of eight or ten weeks and one pays for a block of lessons. Now there is a viability issue in the medium-term as Border town leisure facilities have no idea when they will re-open and, as a result, parents, who naturally want to ensure their children have a good level of swimming, will travel across the Border to Newry and spend money there. I ask the Government to outline when swimming lessons for children will resume. I must say that it has been great to see children playing sports over the last couple of weeks and we must seek the same for sports that predominantly take place indoors..