‘It reflects how people across Inishowen feel – promised delivery, but left waiting’

Inishowen Councillors have called for funding to develop swimming facilities in Buncrana.

This comes following the investment in Templemore Strategic Leisure Project, which will see state-of-the-art sports, health, and wellness facilities brought to Derry. This includes an Olympic-sized 50m (8-lane) main pool, a separate leisure/teaching pool, a toddler pool, and water recreation features including family flumes and a splash area.

The Buncrana Leisure Centre has been closed since 2013. Councillors state that the problem does not lie with local authorities, but rather the central government and it reflects a wider feeling in the community. 

“Today, our neighbours in Derry City have agreed a remarkable £100 million masterplan to redevelop Templemore Sports Complex,” Sinn Féin Councillor Jack Murray said. “It will deliver an Olympic-size pool, major sports hall, modern gym, running track, floodlit pitches, a spa, soft play, exercise studios and more — a major upgrade of an existing facility for the whole community to enjoy.

“That is what real delivery looks like. It’s extraordinary that Templemore, as we know it, could now be fully demolished and rebuilt before Buncrana’s long-awaited pool has even been allocated the full funding.

“Yet instead of focusing on securing that funding, some local government party members have chosen the politics of distraction. In recent days, it has been suggested that Sinn Féin, the 100% Redress Party and other independent councillors, by refusing to impose further rate increases on struggling local businesses, have somehow put our pool at risk.

“That simply isn’t true. Since 2015, the council has been united on this and has maintained monies in its capital budget to use when the government is ready to invest. Further still, the council has repeatedly committed to providing funding from its annual revenue budget to help upkeep the pool when it eventually opens.

“I'm proud to have stood up for our local businesses in the recent budget, and I find it extraordinarily creative for some to try and pretend that a move to protect local businesses from a rates hike in 2026 is the problem. That is simply wrong — it will not hinder this project at all. 

“Years of Government inaction is what left us where we are. The Buncrana pool has been stalled for almost a decade because no Government department has yet committed the full funding required. That’s the clear facts of the matter.

“That remains the reality today. What we need now is unity of purpose. All of us in elected office in Inishowen must work together to secure the investment our community deserves — not engage in petty point-scoring.

“Our people want this pool. They’ve waited long enough. Let’s work together, all of us - across the political divide. Let's roll up our sleeves and make it happen.”

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Councillor Joy Beard of the 100% Redress Party has said that the people of Buncrana and Inishowen are entitled to honesty and accountability after more than ten years without a leisure centre, following comments by a fellow government councillor that she says are misleading and unfair.

Cllr Beard said attempts to suggest that local councillors or council budget decisions are responsible for the delay are simply wrong and distract from the real issue. Stating it was unacceptable to attempt to shift blame locally when the Government had failed to prioritise the project for over a decade.

“Protecting local businesses from further commercial rates increases did not delay this project,” Cllr Beard said. “What is delaying it was the failure to commit the capital funding required to build the leisure centre.  We have to be open and honest about the true facts

“The Buncrana Leisure Centre has been closed since 2013. In all that time, Government capital funding to rebuild it has never been committed. That is the fundamental problem, and it remains the problem today.”

“It is an abandoned structure and a constant eyesore in the heart of the town. It reflects how people in Buncrana and across Inishowen feel – promised delivery, but left waiting year after year.

Cllr Beard said the disappointment was deepened when anticipated funding for the Buncrana Leisure Centre, which had full planning permission and was ready to proceed, was instead awarded to the ATU project.

“At a time when Buncrana had full planning permission in place and genuine expectations that funding would finally be delivered, that funding was redirected elsewhere. That was deeply disappointing for the community and represented another missed opportunity to finally turn plans into reality.

“I am regularly contacted by schools seeking assistance to fund trips outside the area so children can learn how to swim. I am glad to support as many of those requests as possible through my Members Development Fund, but the reality is that this should never be necessary.

“In a coastal community, swimming is a basic life skill and a matter of safety. Too many children in Buncrana and Inishowen have been denied that opportunity.

“A leisure centre is not just about sport. It is a vital community space that supports physical health, mental well-being, and social connection. At a time when families are dealing with the stress and trauma of the defective concrete crisis, the lack of facilities that support well-being is being felt even more acutely.

“The people of Buncrana and Inishowen do not want representatives' blame-shifting or distraction. They want action. After more than a decade of waiting, it is time for Government to commit the funding needed and finally deliver the leisure centre this community deserves.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme