49. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media what assistance his Department can provide to support the development of public swimming pools in towns such as Loughrea, County Galway, where there is a need for such facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8895/25]

Sentiment score: 0.14

What support can the Minister of State and his Department provide to support the development of public swimming pools, particularly in the town of Loughrea in my constituency? The Minister of State might be aware that there have been efforts for some time to develop a public swimming pool there but there are challenges with funding to get this project off the ground.

Sentiment score: 0.39

I thank the Minister of State. There is a huge need for this in Loughrea. There is no pool within 25 km of the town. The town itself has a population of 6,500, with a further 15,000 or so people in the hinterland. There are five schools in the town and many children who cannot access swimming facilities on an ongoing basis. We know all the health and wellbeing benefits that this kind of project can bring to people with disabilities, the elderly and everybody in the community. There are specific challenges for the swimming pool committee in Loughrea in accessing funding to get a project like this up and running. Significant funding is needed for the initial stages of project development. As it stands, the LSSIF requires a huge contribution from the local authority and it does not assist with project development. That is a particular challenge in County Galway because our local authority has serious funding issues. The Government has consistently underfunded our council. Will this be looked at and will a specific funding stream for pools be considered? A total of 35 out of 96 is not sufficient for the demand in our communities.

Sentiment score: 0.13

I welcome the Minister of State's willingness to engage with the local authority. Galway County Council has asked Government for support of €3 million to assist it in developing proposals for swimming pools, including project development, site design, and planning permission, to put it in a position to access capital funding. Will that be considered? Can that form part of the Minister of State's discussions with the county council? Like I said, Galway County Council is a particular case and raising the local property tax will not address the significant funding challenges that we have. On a bigger scale, we know that money is available. Investing in the health and wellbeing of our communities is a worthwhile investment. I ask the Minister of State to look at the specific case in Loughrea, to take the funding issues that the council has into account and to engage with it on that request for €3 million for development of facilities.

Sentiment score: 0.27