Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, to the House. I raise a pertinent matter regarding the provision of sports facilities. I represent the Roscommon constituency, which benefited from significant Government investment in a leisure centre three years ago. This was money well spent on a facility which has been a major source of enjoyment and health benefit to the population of the county, including me. It is encouraging to see so many school children, young people and elderly people from my constituency using the swimming pool. We often discuss the need for preventive medicine but the provision of a leisure centre with excellent facilities, including a swimming pool, encourages people with arthritis and other conditions to engage in sport.

More recently, a swimming pool which opened in Carrick-on-Shannon has been a tremendous success. This leaves only one area, the west of the County Roscommon, lacking a facility. The people of Ballaghaderreen have collected a vast sum of money, approximately €270,000, towards the provision of a swimming pool and are anxious to have similar facilities developed in their area because they live approximately 30 miles from the nearest leisure centre in Roscommon town. A new swimming pool would cater for the area extending from Ballaghaderreen and Castlerea into counties Mayo and Sligo. As a sufficient number of people in the area are willing to use a swimming pool and all the required criteria have been met, I am anxious that the Minister provide the required funding as soon as possible.

I thank the Minister again for the funding his Department has invested in leisure centres around the country, which is money well spent. We should consider developing co-operation with the Health Service Executive and Department of Education and Science to ensure further vital leisure facilities are developed and properly financed. I pay tribute to Roscommon County Council for stepping in to assume control of the leisure centre when the previous operator withdrew from the project. The council has made an excellent investment in the community by spending some €150,000 on new sports equipment, including running machines, cross-trainers and weights. I look forward to the Minister's reply.

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Feighan for raising this matter and providing me with an opportunity to outline the current position regarding both the local authority swimming pool programme and the Ballaghaderreen swimming pool project under the programme. Under the local authority swimming pool programme, there are four principal stages in a swimming pool project. These, in order of progress, are feasibility study-preliminary report; contract documents; tender; and construction. The Department and its technical advisers, the Office of Public Works, evaluate each stage and local authorities cannot proceed from one stage to the next without prior approval from my Department.

Grant aid is not allocated until the tenders have been approved for a project. The maximum grant available under the programme is €3.8 million, subject to the total grant not exceeding 80% of the eligible cost of the project or, in the case of projects located in disadvantaged areas, 90% of the eligible cost.

Applications are dealt with on a case by case basis and consideration is given to issues such as whether the area is classified as disadvantaged, the number and geographical spread of projects within and between counties, the viability of the project, particularly with regard to operational and maintenance issues, the overall funding package for the project, technical details and the Department's annual Estimates provision for the swimming pool programme.

As regards the proposed Ballaghaderreen swimming pool project, Roscommon County Council submitted to my Department an updated feasibility report in July 2002 in respect of a project which had been initiated by the local community group. It is a requirement of the programme that projects not being developed directly by a local authority must be submitted through, and have the full support of, the relevant local authority. This is particularly important in the context of financing the capital and ongoing costs of such projects.

Arising from the assessment of this feasibility report by our technical advisers, the Office of Public Works, the county council was asked in June 2004 to prepare a more detailed feasibility study. The project will be considered further when this updated material is received. The updated study is expected to focus on the viability and sustainability of the project, having regard to current demographics and other public swimming pool developments since the preparation of the earlier study. For example, a public swimming pool has been constructed in Carrick-on-Shannon on the edge of the northern part of County Roscommon. It is understood this pool opened earlier this year.

I have also received a copy of a submission made by a community group, Ballaghaderreen and Districts Development Limited, on the subject of a public pool for Ballaghaderreen. I have recommended that this submission be presented to Roscommon County Council and the Roscommon County Development Board to ensure their support for the project.

Moving to broader but related sporting and recreational issues, the Senator will be aware that earlier this year I approved a grant of €120,000 under the sports capital programme for the improvement of sporting facilities in Ballaghaderreen. The grant application was made by another local community based organisation, Ballaghaderreen Community Park Company Limited.

Overall, 55 projects are included in the local authority swimming pool programme. Since 2000, nearly €58 million has been spent on public swimming pools and 18 projects have been completed. These have included the provision of grant aid for the refurbishment of the swimming pool in Roscommon town, which reopened to the public in 2002. A further eight projects are at construction stage, in Ballyfermot and Jobstown in Dublin, Drogheda, Youghal, Cobh, Letterkenny, Monaghan and Ballybunion, and 29 other applications are at various stages in the process. Of these, eight are at tender stage, 13 are at contract document stage and eight, including Ballaghaderreen, are at preliminary report stage. It is clear, therefore, that significant progress is being made in implementing the programme.

My Department is carrying out an expenditure review of the swimming pool programme which will examine, among other matters, how the programme has worked to date and the benefits which have accrued to the areas where pools have been built. It will also suggest amendments which may be required to ensure effective and efficient delivery of the programme. It is vital that the promotion of sport generally and the development of facilities such as swimming pools is carried out in a strategic and focused way. This means establishing priorities, avoiding overlaps and ensuring maximum public access to available facilities.

The Government is anxious to ensure that the investment of taxpayers' money provides value for money by ensuring that attractive, viable facilities are built. The level of funding provided in 2005 by my Department, at almost €62 million in respect of the sports capital programme, €34 million in respect of the Sports Council and €32 million in respect of the local authority swimming pool programme, including €3.7 million allocated to St. Michael's House for a swimming pool project to cater for persons with special needs, demonstrates that its commitment to sport and leisure is being sustained and enhanced annually.