Written answer
Swimming Pools
404. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to provide a schedule of each swimming pool in receipt of public funding since 2020. [42789/24]
Comment on this
The National Sports Policy, which was published in 2018, provided for the establishment of a Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The aim of the LSSIF is to provide Exchequer support for larger sports facility projects where the Exchequer investment would be greater than the maximum amount available under the Community Sport Facilities Fund (formerly the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme).
The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to local authorities and National Governing Bodies of Sport. New swimming pool projects and the refurbishment of existing swimming pools were eligible to apply for LSSIF grant funding subject to published guidelines and regulations. All applications were assessed in accordance with the published Evaluation Procedures and Guidelines with the first allocations announced in January 2020.
Eight swimming related projects were allocated total grant funding under LSSIF of €19,950,592 as follows;
1. Sligo: Waterpoint Aqua Park – Allocated €300,000.
2. Kilkenny: The Watershed Development – Allocated €2,171,875.
3. Limerick: Askeaton Pool and Leisure – Allocated €1,265,750
4. Wicklow: Wicklow Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre – Allocated €1,796,600
5. Louth: Dundalk Leisure Centre – Allocated €300,000
6. Galway: Galway Regional Aquatic and Fitness Centre – Allocated €8,003,415
7. Dublin: Samuel Beckett Civic Campus Phase 2 – Allocated €5,650,000
8. Laois: Portarlington Leisure Centre Swimming Pool – Allocated €462,952
Earlier this year, Minister Martin and I announced funding of up to €120 million under the new 2024 round of the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). Assessment of applications is well advanced and I hope to announce allocations under this latest round of LSSIF in the coming period.
Prior to the establishment of the LSSIF, funding for swimming pools was provided through the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme. Payments made under that programme since 2020 are as follows:
University of Limerick (UL) €387,450
South Dublin County Council (Lucan Swimming Pool) €3,207,349