Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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22. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the campaign to have a permanent public pool constructed in Blessington, County Wicklow following the success of a temporary pop-up pool installation; if she will consider meeting the campaign team to discuss the project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3061/23]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the campaign to have a permanent pool in the Blessington area.

In relation to my Department's responsibilities, 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 has been completed under the LASPP and three swimming pool projects (Lucan, Buncrana and Edenderry) remain in the programme with the Lucan project currently under construction.

My Department's capital support for any new swimming pools is now being provided through the Large Scale Sport 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. The first allocations were announced in January 2020 and thus far, approximately €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals including 8 swimming pool projects.

An application was received from Wicklow County Council in respect of the project referred to by the Deputy but was not awarded a grant under the first set of allocations. All applications under the LSSIF were assessed in accordance with the published scoring criteria. The total funding applied for under the scheme significantly exceeded the amount available to allocate and the project referred to by the Deputy did not score sufficiently highly to be awarded a grant under this first set of allocations. The priority in the short term is to advance all LSSIF projects, including the swimming pools, to construction stage.

In relation to future swimming pool funding, my Department is currently undertaking a review of progress on all existing LSSIF 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 is expected to be finalised shortly.

Furthermore, work has advanced on the development of the first National Swimming Strategy based on a vision to ‘provide everyone in Ireland with an opportunity to swim’. The Working Group tasked with the detailed work of preparing the strategy is chaired by my Department and comprises representatives from relevant NGBs and stakeholders. An extensive consultation process has been undertaken across both stakeholders and the public and work is ongoing on the analysis of the very large number of responses received to ensure that the Strategy encompasses all of the issues raised to the greatest extent possible. It is hoped to finalise the new Strategy in the coming months and it will further guide future swimming pool investment policy. While I am always happy to meet groups seeking to improve our sport infrastructure, I feel it would be better to arrange such a meeting after the Swimming Strategy is finalised at which time I would be happy to meet the group.