Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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490. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 1218 of 21 March 2017, the status of funding for a swimming pool (details supplied) to address issues as a result of flood damage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27844/18]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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My officials recently wrote to Limerick City and County Council stating that the Department is not in a position to provide funding for the works referred to at this time. As the Deputy may be aware, the pool in question received funding of €3,809,214 under the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme with the final (retention) payment made in March 2009. As is the norm for grants under the Swimming Pool Programme, the original grant was conditional on the Council maintaining the facility.

In terms of any possible future funding, the recently published National Development Plan (NDP) contains a commitment to establish a new “Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund” (LSSIF) with at least €100m available over the coming years. It is intended that the Fund will primarily be targeted at larger new projects, including swimming pools, where the proposed Government contribution exceeds the amount currently available for individual projects under the Sports Capital Programme. The draft terms and conditions of the new scheme are expected to be finalised shortly and an announcement in relation to when applications will be accepted will be made once this work is complete. The fund will be initially focused on the National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Authorities.  In due course, consideration may be given to applications for larger scale refurbishment work.