Buncrana Swimming Pool awarded €2 million grant to finalise design

Minister of State Charlie McConalogue has announced that up to €2 million in funding has been allocated to complete the detailed design of the new Buncrana Leisure Centre.

Making the announcement, the Minister of State for Sport and Postal Policy commented: “I am delighted as Minister for Sport to confirm this allocation of funding. Since being appointed earlier this year at the Department of Sport, I have worked tirelessly to progress this issue for the people of Buncrana and Inishowen.

“Following extensive engagement with the Department, Donegal County Council and the Leisure Centre Committee, the Department is now in a position to commit this funding and enable the project to progress and for detailed design work to be completed,” Minister McConalogue added.

“After the detailed design phase, the project will be ready to be put out to tender. This project has been a key political priority of mine and I am fully committed to seeing it delivered and a new swimming pool and leisure centre developed in Buncrana for the people of Inishowen. This funding announcement is an important step in moving this project forward and I will continue to work to ensure this project’s completion and delivery,” Minister McConalogue said.

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Twelve months ago, Buncrana Swimming Pool was passed over for €17 million in funding under the large scale sports infrastructure fund when, during the competitive scoring process, Donegal County Council identified the Letterkenny Regional Sports and Activity Hub at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU), as the number one priority for funding in the county. Swim Ireland also relegated Buncrana Swimming Pool down the list of its priorities for funding.

However, this €2 million design grant is the first concrete sign of progress on redeveloping the swimming pool which closed for redevelopment in 2014 and has remained shuttered since.

“I am delighted to see the new pool move to the next phase of the project,” local Fianna Fáil councillor Fionán Bradley said when welcoming the funding announcement “I know first hand the frustration locally given the pace of progress in relation to this issue, but I want to reassure people that much work has and is being done to get the project to this point.

“I will continue to work closely with Minister McConalogue and all the relevant stakeholders to ensure the new leisure centre is constructed in a timely manner,” Cllr Bradley added.

Leisure Centre committee to wind-up

Meanwhile, the Inish Times understands that the Buncrana Community Leisure Centre Co-Operative Society Ltd - the organisation which operated the centre and owns the premises and the site on which it stands - will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting on Thursday 20 November to approve its voluntary liquidation.

This voluntary liquidation is the legal mechanism a Co-Operative Society must use to wind up its affairs. It does not mean the organisation is insolvent or unable to pay its debts; rather, whatever small debts it has will be settled from the sale and distribution of its assets.

Members have been written to in recent weeks advising them of the board’s decision to propose a voluntary liquidation of the company and to distribute its assets - including transferring ownership of the centre and the site to Donegal County Council.

The board of directors has advised members of the Co-Operative Society that the company will be placed into a “solvent members’ voluntary liquidation,” in which all creditors of the company will be paid.

The EGM will be held in the Lake of Shadows Hotel in Buncrana at 7.30pm on Thursday 20 November and is open to all shareholders.

Those who cannot attend can appoint a proxy to vote on the dissolution resolution on their behalf.