Regina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, for taking this Commencement debate. I want to highlight the ongoing lack of swimming pools, or even of a swimming pool, in my constituency of Dublin Fingal and the long-standing frustration of the communities and towns in the constituency at that lack. I know the Minister of State is in charge of the Central Statistics Office. It can be seen from the latest census figures on population released last week that the population of Dublin Fingal has grown by 12% since 2016. We now have more than 170,000 citizens living in Dublin Fingal but no swimming pool.

By way of comparison, the county of Leitrim has a population of 35,000 and has two swimming pools. I do not begrudge the people of Leitrim their two swimming pools but we have none. There is no public pool for the large towns of Skerries, Balbriggan, Lusk, Rush, Donabate and Swords. There are tens of thousands of people living in these villages but they have no pool. Nearly three years ago, it was promised that a pool would be built in Balbriggan alongside a relatively new housing development called Castlelands but it never materialised. In Skerries, planning permission was granted for a swimming pool on council land at the ballast pit in 2000. Despite this, there is no swimming pool and the planning permission has now lapsed. I really encourage the Minister of State's Department to revisit this. The local councillors, including Councillor Tom O'Leary of my own party, have been working hard with the council locally to try to get the issue back on the agenda.

A local group, the North Fingal Pool Campaign, was established a number of years ago. Genuinely month in and month out, it has been calling for a public swimming pool in north Fingal to serve the towns of Balbriggan, Balrothery, Balscadden, Skerries, Lusk and Rush and the tens of thousands who live in those towns who have no access to a pool. It is high time that the families and communities of north Fingal were able to avail of a local swimming pool.

As Minister of State with responsibility for sport, I do not have to tell Deputy Chambers that Swim Ireland tells us that swimming is in the top three sports that girls and women say that they want to participate in. More than 290,000 people swim at least once a week in Ireland. It is the most popular activity among older adults. There are also health and social benefits. One of the biggest barriers is access to a pool.

To be fair, we in Fingal are extremely fortunate to have some of the most beautiful beaches in Ireland, which a great many people use. Even more have been using them over recent years because of the Covid pandemic. However, the sea is not always an option for people who wish to swim, particularly in the winter months. You cannot run water aerobics for older adults and, in many cases, it is not safe for our children. Notwithstanding any inaction over recent years, I want to make the case that the best time to do something is now. I ask for the support of the Minister of State and his Department and for them to work with Fingal County Council to ensure we get access to a swimming pool.

Ireland's first pop-up pool was launched in Donabate Portrane Community and Leisure Centre a number of weeks ago. It is a fully heated pool in a structured marquee that can accommodate 16 children at a time. It has been greatly oversubscribed. It is really popular and welcome but we do not want a pop-up pool. We want our own state-of-the-art full-length swimming pool where the communities of Dublin Fingal can enjoy access to a local amenity week in and week out.Will the Minister of State's Department give us its view on the possibility of constructing a modular swimming pool? I am informed they can built for just under €1 million, as opposed to the €25 million that would be needed. This is probably the problem with Fingal County Council. Despite the fact it is one of the wealthiest and has the largest income of any county council in the country, I appreciate that €25 million is lot of money. I want to know the Minister of State's opinion on modular swimming pools that can be built for €1 million. I could suggest a funding breakdown of 50:50 between the State and the local authorities. That would make it much more accessible and easy to deliver. Instead of looking for one, we might look for one for every town.

I thank the Minister of State for coming here this morning. I look forward to working with his Department to try to deliver a much-needed and long-awaited swimming pool for the people for Dublin Fingal.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Regina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I genuinely thank the Minister of State. It is bizarre that we have the Government commitments. The strategy is there and the money is there. There is the figure of €100 million up to 2027. The Minister of State corrected me. I said it was the third most popular sport, but it is the second most popular sport. I have the largest constituency and yet we do not even have an application by Fingal County Council for my area. There is something wrong. This is certainly not the will of the people or of the organisations and the local groups that have established themselves to fight for this. It is certainly not for the lack of it being raised by the local county councillors in my part of Dublin Fingal in Fingal County Council. There is something amiss.

I will tell the Minister of State what I know, which is that 170,000 people deserve to have access to a sports facility for second-largest and most-enjoyed sport in the country. With the Minister of State’s and his Department’s help and with the swimming strategy, I hope we can co-operate and work together to get the modular builds built fast. It is not a €25 million structure, such as those we see in other towns and villages. Right now, we have nothing. We need something and we need it fast.

I ask for the Minister of State’s support and for someone in his Department to make contact with the relevant director of services in Fingal County Council to see how we can bring forward the modular programme. Certainly, Fingal County Council can afford €1 million. Obviously, any access to funding would be welcome. I ask the Minister of State for a commitment that somebody in his Department will work with us to see if we can advance the delivery of not just one modular pool, but a number of modular pools for Dublin Fingal.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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To be fair to Fingal County Council, it was very engaged with Swim Ireland when it came to the pop-up pool in Donabate. That is the trialling of the new concept of delivery around transportable pools. A modular pool is a scaled-up version of that and a more permanent fixture. As a coastal community in Fingal, it is important to have access to swimming pool infrastructure. I take the Senator’s point on that. That is why in the next six months, by year-end, we will have the swimming strategy published. That will, as a key component, look at the infrastructural opportunities and the modular components which are happening right across the world and which we need to embrace in Ireland. As part of that, there will be opportunities to identify the deficits geographically and how we can provide new infrastructure. Then we will try to negotiate a budget line to achieve that.

I appreciate the feedback the Senator has given on the necessity to deliver for a community that currently has that infrastructure gap. We are keen to address many of those issues as part of the national swimming strategy. There are new and exciting opportunities to deliver quickly to communities when it comes to swimming pool infrastructure in terms of the new modular pools, with much more affordable opportunities within communities. That is something the group will be working on in the coming weeks and months.