Time for change: Delays for swimming lessons are just too long in Tipperary

I got a fright in the sea a few years ago off the coast.

Floating on the water I looked and saw the beach I came from drifting into the distance. The adrenalin kicked in.
In the hazy sunshine that day signs were along the beach warning of rip tides and currents here but until that moment it didn’t really register.

In the water I couldn’t tip the sand underneath with my feet and with a mere glimpse of the beach, I set off swimming in that direction. Thankfully I caught the right wave and made it to shore.

I was a strong swimmer at the time and thankfully made it back but I know the value of swimming lessons. As a child, I got weekly lessons in Thurles and it is a skill that has stood to me over the years.

Swimming is an essential life skill, but there are currently long delays to access swimming lessons in many locations. Children are reported to have to wait up to three years across the county and nationwide in some cases. The recent closure of the pool at weekends in Tipperary Town, documented in this week’s Tipperary Star newspaper, is a microcosm of the problem. The lack of qualified personnel to allow the pool to function safely is the reason for the closure at the Sean Treacy Memorial Pool, and the fact that just one qualified lifeguard applied for the available position at the pool highlights the skills shortages among the general public.

The knock on effect is that the pool has closed now for two weekends running and this situation could continue.
In the Tipperary Town pool, swimming lessons take place six days a week and serve 500 plus currently, yet more still are looking to enrol.

The demand is high. Lessons there run in six-week blocks but the demand is great with people travelling from Cahir, Cashel and Oola to use the pool. Thurles Leisure Centre is a very well run facility but again the delays and backlog since 2020 have had a knock on effect on swimming lessons.

It has been the case since the pandemic, General Manager Laurna Day explains: “Covid stopped all the lessons, both group lessons and private lessons so there’s a two-year backlog of children that are still waiting to get lessons and get regular pool time.

“We are trying to accommodate that demand at the moment,” she said.

Amongst an island population, should swimming feature more prominently in the school curriculum?
While aquatics now feature to some degree on the primary school curriculum in Ireland, the duration of the course is not sufficient to ensure competent swimmers.

Over two million people in Ireland live within five kilometres of the coast and even though Tipperary people have further to travel to the beach, many make the trip or go to local rivers and lakes. Awareness and confidence around water is essential. This comes from swimming on a regular basis.

Laurna Day says they are doing all they can in Thurles Leisure Centre to ensure everyone can learn to swim: “We operate swimming classes in a swim school all year round and we also do private lessons to try and meet the ongoing demand.
“We have some primary and secondary schools coming in as well for 45-minute lessons each week.
“We’re trying to do everything to make sure no child misses out,” she said.

Hopefully a conscious effort by the powers that be will be put into shortening the backlog for swimming lessons in Ireland. It will save lives.