‘Long and frustrating wait’ for Youghal’s €9m pool nearing an end
That’s a few months behind the original schedule. But for the local community, the most important thing is that the completion date is now set in stone for a development that will catapult Youghal to the very forefront of the country’s major tourist resorts.
“It has been a long and sometimes frustrating wait,” town clerk Liam Ryan admitted.
“There were some who believed the whole thing would never comes to pass, but finally the home straight has been reached and we will be up and running with the exciting project in a matter of months.”
The complex, which will have a 25-metre swimming pool as its anchor feature, will also include children’s and learners pools, a 2,000sq ft gymnasium, jacuzzis, water slides, and a café.
Located on a three-acre site at Claycastle, it will be under the management of local company Claycastle Leisure Co Ltd, which in turn has appointed a leading national swimming pool operator, Aura Ltd, to take responsibility for the day-to-day running of it.
The Government has provided €4.3 million towards the project, and with Cork County Council and Youghal Town Council also making significant contributions, together with many local fundraising efforts, financial targets have all been met.
“The overall financial position is hugely positive,” said Mr Ryan, “and that is a tribute to the way the whole multi-million project has been approached from day one. Of course there is still a financial shortfall that will have to be bridged, but everything is moving in the right direction.”
The town mayor, Mary Linehan-Foley, said a lot of people have worked long and hard to bring the project to this stage.
“To be fair to the Government, their contribution of €4.3m has, at the end of the day, been crucially important in bringing it to the brink of reality,” she said.
The mayor said the swimming pool and leisure complex is the final link in the resort’s tourism chain and it will attract visitors to the town in greater numbers than ever before.
Meanwhile, work on the completion of another of the town’s multi-million euro developments — a community school — is also nearing completion.
The school, which is costing €14m, will be one of the biggest educational centres in the country.
An amalgamation of the three local second-level schools, Loreto Convent, CBS, and Coláiste Eoin (vocational), it will have an enrolment of almost 1,000 students, and it set to open for the 2006/07 school year in September.
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