Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 185: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he will confirm that an allocation of finance has been ring fenced for the provision of a swimming pool in Loughrea, County Galway; the reason the State Solicitor's Office has delayed processing and sanctioning the agreement with the parties involved, namely Galway County Council, Loughrea Pool Committee, his Department and a private partnership; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45725/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has been in discussions now for a number of years with Galway County Council regarding the grant aiding of a swimming pool in Loughrea. The current proposal is that Galway County Council would supply a site to a local hotel developer who would construct the pool and in return would make the pool available to the public in Loughrea for an agreed number of hours per week and at entrance prices comparable to other public pools in Galway. As part of this plan the Council applied to my Department for a grant of €1.7m from the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme towards the construction of the pool.

In this regard a meeting took place in July 2008 between representatives of my Department, Galway County Council, the Chief State Solicitor's Office and the Office of the Attorney General to discuss certain legal aspects of the project. The Office of the Attorney General was subsequently asked to advise on a number of legal issues raised at the meeting.

Having considered the legal advice of the Office of the Attorney General, my Department has decided that it cannot now recommend the granting of aid of €1.7m to Galway County Council for the construction of a swimming pool at Loughrea under the current contractual arrangements. My Department had requested Galway County Council to consider this matter further and revert as soon as possible as to how it wishes to proceed. A reply from Galway County Council has recently been received and is now being considered by my Department.