Pool plan rides wave of public approval

A swimming pool for Lucan has been included in the South Dublin County Council Draft Development Plan for 2016-22, amidst widespread public approval.
The draft development plan is now up for public consultation and the inclusion of the swimming pool is likely to stay in the final plan in November unless a motion is passed against it.
According to the report, a swimming pool for Lucan on a new sports and leisure centre campus at Griffeen has been identified.
The report also stated that: “Alternative locations [will] be sought as part of an extensive public consultation process but with Griffeen identified as the default site. The new sports facility will ensure that sufficient capacity is built in to provide storage space for sports equipment from local clubs.”
The campaign for a public swimming pool in Lucan has been going on for about 30 years and has been the topic of many county council motions tabled by local representatives.
A lobby for a public swimming pool for Lucan has also been set up by local residents and to date has amassed over 3,500 signatures in a petition.
Welcoming the recent development, Lucan TD Joanna Tuffy (Lab) said: “I believe the restatement of the swimming pool objective in the community infrastructure chapter of the new draft plan, reaffirms the commitment of councillors to the pool, and is a clearer statement of intent than the previous objective.”
Deputy Tuffy also congratulated the members of the lobby for a public swimming pool for Lucan on their community-based campaign, which she said, had given a new momentum to the strong case for public funding for a pool in Lucan, with its population of over 45,000.
“I would now urge our councillors to ensure the reinstatement of the Lucan swimming pool in the council’s rolling capital programme budget.
“It was a bit of a setback when the Lucan swimming pool was omitted from that budget, having been kept in it for many years.
“I have raised the matter of funding for the pool in Dail Eireann a number of times, and am currently awaiting a reply to another Parliamentary Question which I have submitted on the issue,” she said.
Liona O’Toole (Ind) also welcomed the news, saying: “It’s a great step further in acquiring a swimming pool for our area, but there still is a lot more work to be done.
“The last assessment on the estimated cost for a swimming pool was about €10m. We can get a certain amount of money from the council and from the sport’s capital funding but we will also have to bang on some of the other Department’s doors to get the rest.”