'No budget' to build a public swimming pool in Co Cork

Cork County Council has 'no current plan' to build a swimming pool in Carrigaline. File picture

No new public swimming pools look likely to be built in Co Cork in the foreseeable future as the county council has said it doesn't have the money to fund them.

The news will come as a particular blow to people living in Carrigaline, the county's biggest town and where councillors insist "the demand is great".

Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath and independent Ben Dalton-O'Sullivan had asked Carrigaline Municipal District Council officials to fund a feasibility study into the possibility of developing a public swimming pool in the town.

In a terse response, officials stated: "Carrigaline MD will not commit to a feasibility study. We do not have the budget to provide a swimming pool in Carrigaline, and the need is negligible."

“We asked for a study to be carried out. That response is quite blunt. Carrigaline is the largest town in the county and the demand is great,” Mr McGrath said.

He pointed out the municipal leisure centre in Mallow is to be upgraded by the council and a feasibility study is being carried out into developing one in Midleton.

“Whoever drew the conclusion that there's no demand [in Carrigaline] can't understand. There's demand there as it comes up constantly [with the public]. There's a private one in the hotel, but it's not accessible to everyone.” Mr McGrath said. 

“I would ask that the concept of feasibility study be considered again.” 

“There's an appetite for more amenities in Carrigaline. Dunmanway, Mallow and Fermoy have them. We need to reconsider this,” Mr Dalton-O'Sullivan said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Audrey Buckley backed her council colleagues. “When I was growing up, the council were looking at one in the [Carrigaline] Circus Field. It's a right that everybody be afforded the right to swim.” 

No budget for feasibility study

Carrigaline officials apologised for “the blunt reply” but said they didn't have the budget for a feasibility study in the first instance, or more importantly for the millions of euros needed to build such a facility.

They added there were three swimming pools in nearby Douglas – one which is public and the other two in hotels.

Nicola Radley, the council's senior executive officer for the Carrigaline area, said a local committee had been set up in Midleton to carry out its own feasibility study and the East Cork Municipal District Council, which controls that area, had agreed to put some money into its budget to support the study.

She said if a similar committee was formed in the Carrigaline area, the local municipal district council might revisit the councillors' calls for some kind of financial support for a feasibility study.

“Cork County Council is not going to provide any new municipal swimming pools in the county so,” Mr McGrath countered.

Ms Radley replied that if the Carrigaline councillors wanted to put some money into a feasibility study any such project would have to be driven by local volunteers, adding the council had “no current plan to build one there".