Three Cork city pools get €720k boost

FINE GAEL has taken a swipe at Fianna Fáil after the Government announced major investment in Cork’s publicly-owned swimming pools.

One of the facilities, the Gus Healy pool in Douglas, has been at the centre of a political battle on Leeside for more than a decade as the city tried and failed to secure funding for upgrades.

Fine Gael Cllr Laura McGonigle said the €720,000 investment for the city’s three public pools proves that Fine Gael has delivered where Fianna Fáil failed.

Ms McGonigle said: “This is hugely positive news for Douglas Pool and while we all agree that it is in need of major upgrading, I think that this very significant investment by the Fine Gael-led Government certainly shows our commitment to retaining and maintaining a pool in the area.

“I have also spoken to a number of officials in the department, who are confident that further funding will be available for the Douglas pool next year under the Sports Capital Grants scheme.”

But Fianna Fáil Cllr Seán Martin hit back, saying the money came from an investment fund established by the previous administration.

City Hall sought grant aid in December 1999 from the Department of Sport’s Swimming Pool Capital Programme to help build leisure facilities to replace its ageing public pools at Douglas and Churchfield.

The department sanctioned €3.8 million towards the cost of a new €9.5m pool and gym at Churchfield, which opened in July 2005, and which is managed by Leisureworld for the city.

However, Douglas did not receive funding and the building deteriorated.

As conditions worsened and funding dried up, it was forced to restrict opening hours and shed staff to save costs.

In 2004, city councillors rejected an offer from a private company to build a new pool in Mahon to replace the Douglas facility.

Two years later, they voted narrowly in favour of building a new pool on the site of the existing Douglas pool — a project dependent on government funding.

But it subsequently emerged that the then government’s pool building fund had been closed.

The pool’s management was taken over by Leisureworld but its facilities still needed major investment.

However, the Sport Minister Leo Varadkar has announced just over €720,000 in funding for Cork’s public pools as part of an initiative to help local authorities improve energy efficiency and enhance disabled access at its pools.

The city council sought grant aid for the Douglas, Churchfield and Bishopstown pools.

Mr Varadkar sanctioned €340,270 for the Gus Healy pool, €180,800 for Leisureworld, Churchfield, and €201,930 for Leisureworld, Bishopstown.

The €340,270 for Douglas will be spent on a new boiler, a new flat roof, new windows, its first pool cover, a new building management system, a water-saving system for cisterns, and a pool hoist for disabled access.

Ms McGonigle also congratulated Leisureworld for including a pool hoist, which will make the facility more accessible for people with physical disabilities.