NORTH KILDARE: 5 May 2001: by Bill Trapman. Kildare County Council is to seek to have a public swimming pool provided for the north of the county, following the passing of a motion by Cllr John McGinley at the last meeting of the council.
Cllr McGinley took the opportunity to move his motion when the Council was debating a consultant’s recommendation to construct two new Swimming Pool Complexes in Naas and Athy at a cost of over £9m.
Cllr McGinley said that a balance had to be struck in the county and that the wheels should now be put in motion for a similar complex in North Kildare and in his view Maynooth was the ideal location.
"Maynooth is central to a population of over 60,000 people from Maynooth, Leixlip, Celbridge, Clane and Kilcock," he noted. "So the viability and need for a swimming pool complex is not in question."
Cllr McGinley said that the country is ‘awash with money’ and is now one of the wealthiest countries in the EU. "But we don’t have the same quality of life as the rest of the EU," he said. "If the Government abandoned the Bertie Dome and instead allocated the money evenly to each county, that would mean £40m for each county. Just imagine how that would improve our recreation, sporting and amenity facilities in each county. Halving the £40m and putting the remaining £500m towards improvements in the Health Services would be making even better use of the money."
Following an amendment deleting Maynooth from the motion, it was unanimously agreed and the county manager stated that they would ‘act on it immediately’.