Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. I know he is familiar with the area given his own connections. I thank the Minister of State for taking this important question. Being from Kildare - I am Kildare to the core - I am in touch with the different issues that impact on the members of the Defence Forces and their families. I often take the opportunity in this House to talk about some of the larger issues within the Defence Forces, such as the need for a cultural transformation, the inadequate pay levels, the lack of investment and the recruitment and retention difficulties. However, there are some other issues that we might consider small but which make a big difference to the quality of life of members of the Defence Forces and their families and indeed those in the surrounding areas.

Within Kildare, we have a huge lack of public swimming pools. There is an excellent one in Athy and another in Naas which is in mid-Kildare. The commitment that has been made for over 20 years is that the next public swimming pool will be in the north of the county. The people living in very large towns such as Newbridge, Monasterevin and Kilcullen and the hinterland all around them do not have access to any public swimming pools. In talking about this, I am also saying that the schools in those areas do not have access to a swimming pool. Prior to Covid, many of the local schools were able to access the Curragh swimming pool, which is a very fine swimming pool. The last investment in it was 20 years ago, when €2 million was invested. At that stage, the arrangement was made that not just those serving in the Defence Forces but also their families and the families of former serving Defence Forces members, could use it. It was a great asset to them. There also were some swimming clubs. Since Covid, however, it has not reopened to the schools, family members or to the former serving officers and this has caused a lot of tension. This was solidified when a small public pool attached to a guest house was bought privately, meaning it is no longer accessible to the schools. I have done quite a bit of background work on this issue and have received commitments from the Tánaiste, who informed me that access works started on 15 September last year. This is really good to know.The agreement was that reopening access to those who did have the opportunity to use it before would be dependent on access issues and redoing the changing rooms. The work started in December and I understand that new lifeguards have also been sought. It is really important that we are clear about our timelines because at this point, more than four years have gone by without access. I do not want to give commitments that are not going to ring true. I am asking the Minister of State for an update on these works. When will the pool open? When will we have the opportunity to extend beyond the families and schools that were using it previously? Members of the public should be able to use this pool. It is a very fine facility and we need to be able to share the sporting facilities and assets we have in the county and particularly in the Curragh area.