Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Doherty for raising this important matter. At the outset, I want to reiterate the Government’s commitment to providing the necessary sports facilities right across the country. If we are to achieve our ambitious targets for sports participation, we need the necessary facilities and equipment. Our commitment in this regard was demonstrated in recent months when we announced €150 million in allocations under the sports capital and equipment programme, which was by far the highest level of funding ever provided under the programme.

On swimming pools specifically, as the Senator will be aware, the provision of such public facilities is primarily a matter for the relevant local authority in the first instance. My Department, however, provides capital support for such facilities, as the Senator mentioned. In this regard, my Department's capital funding for new swimming pools or the refurbishment of existing pools was previously provided through the local authority swimming pool programme, LASPP. A total of 52 pools have been completed, and three swimming pool projects at Lucan, Buncrana and Edenderry remain in the programme, with the Lucan project nearing completion. My Department's capital support for any new swimming pools is now being provided through the large-scale sports infrastructure fund, LSSIF. The national development plan provided a capital allocation of at least €100 million for the fund over the period to 2027.

The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to local authorities and national governing bodies, NGBs, of sport. All applications were assessed in accordance with the evaluation procedures. It was announced in January 2020. Thus far, approximately €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals. These initial allocations include funding for eight swimming pool projects. It should be noted that Fingal County Council did not submit any application for a pool project under this call.

The priority in the short term is to advance all of these projects, including the swimming pools, to construction stage. In relation to any future requests for capital support for swimming pools, my Department is currently undertaking a review of progress on all existing grants. As part of this review, my Department is also considering the timing of any new call for proposals. The review work is at an advanced stage and it is expected to be finalised shortly. It will, of course, be a matter for Fingal County Council to decide on its priorities if and when a new call for LSSIF proposals issues.

More generally, the national sports policy commits to the development of a national swimming strategy. As part of this, there will be a review of swimming pool provision to identify where gaps exist and how these can be met. Furthermore, the sports action plan, which was published in November 2021, contains an action to develop and implement this strategy to provide additional swimming opportunities, both indoors and outdoors. Initial preparatory work has been undertaken in respect of this strategy and invitations have issued from my Department in respect of membership of a working group, which will be tasked with the detailed work of preparing the strategy, with a view to its completion and publication later this year. The outcome of these will be considered when deciding on the future funding provision for swimming pools, including any in the Dublin Fingal area.

As someone who was a councillor of Fingal County Council before being elected to the Dáil, I am very aware of the democratic necessity of an increased swimming pool infrastructure. That is why, as part of the national swimming strategy, we are looking at that infrastructure piece. I know that Swim Ireland has ideas. The pop-up pool is one example. There are also interim infrastructure solutions that could arise. The Senator mentioned a modular build of a pool, which, as part of the national swimming strategy, will form part of new of infrastructural solutions that we will have to move on to fill the gap.

As the Senator referenced, if one looks at the existing capital allocations, many of them cost up to €20 million. One cannot put a €20 million swimming pool everywhere. It is, therefore, important to find new solutions to deliver the participation benefits for all ages. As the Senator referenced, swimming is the second most popular sport, with up to half a million people swimming per week. It is important that we meet that demand from a water safety perspective as well. We are open, as part of the swimming strategy, to finding new solutions to deliver new infrastructure in communities. We will be engaging actively on this in the coming months.