'Lack of enthusiasm' around running of popular Tipperary facility, council hears

There appears to be a “lack of enthusiasm” around the running of a Tipperary amenity, according to a local councillor.

That was the comment made by independent councillor John O’Heney at the February meeting of the Tipperary Cahir Cashel Municipal District, who feels that further improvements are needed at Sean Treacy Memorial Swimming Pool in Tipperary Town.

Despite the welcome return of aqua fitness classes to the Tipp Town amenity in the coming weeks, Cllr O’Heney feels that more needs to be done to make the swimming pool more accessible to local residents.

Calling for a meeting with the swimming pool manager, Cllr O’Heney said that a review of the pool’s timetable was needed due to the “unbelievable” amount of people who had told him that the pool was closed when they wanted to use it.

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Currently, the Tipperary Town pool is closed on a half day on Saturdays, Sundays and closed on bank holidays, with the local councillor calling for more to be done to make the facility a viable enterprise.

Cllr O’Heney said that the facility “needs more engagements going forward in terms of the timetabling structures of the pool so that it benefits the wider community going forward.

“These are not my concerns. They've been brought to me by the wider public,” the local councillor said.

“I do understand there are staffing issues and staffing shortages, I'm actually formerly a swimming teacher myself, so I'm well aware of the difficulties in sourcing teachers and lifeguards to perform the services that are needed,” he said.

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“If we can just keep improving the services available at the pool, we need to make the pool viable going forward, it needs to return to some form of profitability. It costs a lot of money to run the pool, and it's coming out of council funding, so we need to ensure that the services are there in the pool, and the timetabling is structured in such a way that it's more accessible to the community so that more people can use it,” the independent councillor concluded.