Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To follow that theme, I went through a process of speech therapy with a four-year-old on Zoom during lockdown. It was the most bizarre experience of my life. There is a real need to look at the waiting lists that have arisen because of lockdown. There are issues with timelines, particularly for speech therapy, and they will be grossly affected unless we get movement.

I would like to raise amenities in State ownership, specifically the only publicly-owned swimming pool in west Cork. It an amazing amenity that we put nearly €6 million into four years ago. It is state-of-the-art. Unfortunately, we cannot get it open seven days a week. It is closed every Sunday and Monday. If money is put into amenities and we have a public swimming pool in west Cork, the most practical thing would be to put a plan in place that it would be open seven days. The lack of such a business plan is creating chaos, particularly for swimming lessons for people who want the opportunity to learn to swim, young and old. This is a state-of-the-art amenity and it is a disgrace that we do not have the opportunity to use it seven days. We need an explanation for why that is happening. The Government must also step in. It has put money in through sports capital grants for these projects. There must be criteria in place. Local authorities cannot step back and say we can only open five days a week. If they cannot keep it open seven days a week, they should not get the funding. We will have to come down hard to make sure that the local authorities step up to make sure these public amenities can be accessed on a seven-day-a-week model.