Swimming Pools
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-20
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

I thank the Deputy for raising the gap analysis report. On what we are going to do about it, the first thing we did was to fund that report. We funded Swim Ireland to carry it out because we want to assess what the situation is across the country, what the level of service provision is, what the current infrastructure is like, where the gaps are most acute and what issues there are with existing infrastructure. The report outlines the heavy reliance on private pool provision, particularly hotel pools. Our officials are considering that report now. We will look at it in detail. It will also inform future funding decisions.
There is a need for us to invest more in swimming pools. We have not seen as many projects as we would like to see come through community sport facilities fund applications. We will now consider where the gaps are, particularly with local authorities and, working with Swim Ireland, see what models work well in meeting provision in the most cost-effective way. We will then assess how we can best try to meet some of the gaps that report, which we funded, identified.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-20