Campaign floated to bring a pop-up swimming pool to Bandon
West Cork TD Christopher O'Sullivan is backing the swimming pool. campaign
Efforts are underway to secure funding to bring a pop-up swimming pool to the town of Bandon in West Cork.
The idea was proposed by Maria Shannon from local community organisation Creative Bandon and has already secured the support of the Bandon Business Association and Cork South West TD Christopher O’Sullivan.
Maria told the Irish Examiner: “Bandon has no swimming facilities locally, and is at a loss for swimming lessons. With over 500,000 children nationally having missed out on lessons over the course of Covid restrictions, waiting times have grown exponentially and it is nigh on impossible to get in anywhere with some people travelling weekly as far as Bantry to avail of swimming lessons.
“With the scarcity of access to swimming at the moment, children in the town are facing an enormous disadvantage from a health, social and water safety point of view,” she said.
The pop-up swimming pool programme is operated by Swim Ireland who would set up the fully enclosed temporary pool for a 12 week period.
It would coincide with school term times allowing local schools access for swimming lessons, thereby maximising its use. An initial set-up cost of €20,000 is needed as well as running costs which would be financed through admission fees for use of the pool.
Hilary O’Farrell, chairperson of the Bandon Business Association said: “This would be a fantastic facility for the town and all of the schools in the locality. It’s a project that I think is attainable and with only one public pool serving the whole of West Cork in Dunmanway something that really is needed.”
Local Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan has also lent his support to the campaign: “I have spoken with Jack Chambers, Minster for Sport in relation to this and he is fully supportive of it and will give all the assistance he can.
"Bandon is by far the biggest town in the region, in the constituency, but it has no public swimming facilities.”
Holding 45,000 litres of water, the 12 metre by 3.4 metre pool is heated to 30 degrees and the pool is sheltered from the elements in a hard sided and heated marquee. There are changing rooms onsite, toilets, a ramp and a hoist.
Maria says that several sites in the town are currently being looked at and she is hopeful that funding can be secured to bring the pool to Bandon in 2023.
“It’s early days but we are looking at all the options available to us," she said. "We have spoken to the local authority and to local businesses and in an ideal world we would hope to get things moving soon, identify a site, secure funding and have something in place for next year.
"During Covid I think it struck a lot of people that outside of the local sports clubs there really is very little in the way of leisure facilities for local people in the town and the first thing most people say when you ask them is that the town really needs a swimming pool.”
Ms Shannon said that if the pop-up pool campaign proves successful it is something that could be looked at on an annual basis.
