THERE is no swimming pool in Bandon because the Council has decided it’s not a priority, a local senator has been told.
Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard said that was the response of Sports Minister Thomas Byrne when queried on the lack of a pool in the West Cork town.
Senator Lombard was also querying Deputy Byrne on the National Swimming Strategy.
‘The vision for the National Swimming Strategy is to provide everyone in Ireland with an opportunity to swim,’ explained Sen Lombard.
‘We’re all in favour of promoting this lifeskill and infrastructure is key to making this vision a reality. The lack of swimming pools has a knock-on effect in making it very difficult for parents to secure swimming lessons for young children,’ he said.
He added that he had asked the minister what progress had been made in developing this strategy following the establishment of a working group in 2022.
In his response, Minister Byrne confirmed that the strategy will be published in the coming weeks and it includes over 50 actions and covers both indoor and outdoor swimming.
‘He confirmed that the current swimming pool stock is insufficient, and an analysis of current provision is proposed to identify gaps,’ said Sen Lombard.
‘When pressed on plans to consider pop-up pools and a capital plan for infrastructure, Minister Byrne cited changes to sports capital funding to include swimming pool renovations and the large scale sport infrastructure fund as pathways for funding.
‘He was critical of local authorities who received funding for swimming pool projects in previous rounds, but have not gone on to develop the projects,’ said Sen Lombard.
