Re-opening of Glenalbyn pool is ‘well on the way’

GLENALBYN Swimming Pool is well on the way to re-opening, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross insisted last week following the appointment of a special facilitator to engage with the relevant parties.

According to Minister Ross, terms of reference have been drafted for the negotiations and the next step is for both Dún Laogahire Rathdown County Council and Kilmacud Crokes to approve the facilitator and sign off on the proposed terms of reference.

 “This is excellent progress and I look forward to a resolution being reached by all parties concerned,” the minister stated.

“The selected facilitator is one of Ireland’s leading professional mediators with a decade of experience and skill in this area and a quarter of a century of professional experience.

“I am confident that this is yet another step in resolving the issues preventing the reopening of our pool and I wish all parties involved the very best.”

Minister Ross added that recent suggestions that Glenalbyn pool had been omitted from the Local Area Plan (LAP) that jeopardised its future, was not true.

 “The Glenalbyn Swimming Pool redevelopment is a Dun Laoghaire Rathdown project which is being advanced as quickly as possible,” he stated.

“The funding of €10million has been ring-fenced and the finance is there for the project.

“At the most recent Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, meeting Cllr Deirdre Donnelly specifically asked Philomena Poole, the chief executive, to confirm this and it’s on the public record that she did.

“At a meeting the previous week Cllr Donnelly also asked about the funding outlined in the council’s budget for phase two of the Ballyogan pool.

“She was assured that another pool would be built there to accommodate the growing populations of Sandyford, Leopardstown and Ballyogan. But this will have no effect on the future of Glenalbyn pool.

“So any suggestions that the money isn’t there for Glenalbyn pool or that its future has been jeopardised are totally untrue,” he added.

“Together with local Cllr Deirdre Donnelly, I have been working for over four years now to get our pool to re-opened.

“In that time thousands of supporters have attended meetings, held protests and made it very clear that the closure of Glenalbyn Swimming Pool was a huge loss to the local community. I applaud their patience and commitment.”

Earlier last month, Rosie Ní Laoghaire, Sinn Féin’s Local Area Representative in Stillorgan, expressed “dismay” that no money had been committed by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for Glenalbyn Swimming Pool in the Capital Plan 2018-20, which was ratified by councillors at a meeting in County Hall on Monday, March 12.

Ms Ní Laoghaire said: “As a local resident, whose family were founder members of Glenalbyn pool, I feel that our local politicians have failed us. 

“There has been ongoing dissatisfaction with our local politicians that they have not pushed harder to reopen our pool. 

“The fact is the council have classified this project as ‘not committed’, which means that is not expected to be delivered in the current capital programme, which runs until 2020.

However, Minister Ross insisted: “We are now well on the way to ensuring that our pool will re-open.

“And, as Minister of Sport, I can assure you that I will continue to do everything within my power to make that happen as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “Our proposal to proceed with the redevelopment of Glenalbyn pool is a separate project to the Local Area Plan (LAP).

“Glenalbyn Pool lies outside the LAP boundary.

The spokesperson added: “It was not ‘excluded’ or ‘omitted’ from the plan as it was never within the LAP boundary.”