KILLARNEY TOWN Council is to decide by Christmas just who will run a €16 million swimming pool and leisure centre for which it borrowed heavily – against the advice of council management and the local chamber of commerce.
The centre was officially opened earlier this year by then ceann comhairle John O’Donoghue. As minister for arts, sport and tourism, Mr O’Donoghue had strongly backed the development, and had secured more than €5 million in grant aid for it.
To help pay for the project, the council both borrowed money and sold a prime town centre site to the OPW for the decentralisation of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.
A spokesman for the council yesterday denied suggestions that rates would be increased to help pay for the development.
He said a number of companies were interested in taking over the running of the centre from the town council, which had to take it over in recent months.
The council on Monday night approved the opening of tenders, the closing date for which is December 17th. A private company, Aura, which had been running the facility, pulled out in September after warning it could not continue to sustain losses unless it got extra support from the council.
The council refused and took over the running of the pool, contracting existing staff under an agreement with Aura.
Three years ago the decision to go ahead with the centre provoked controversy and led to a split in the town council after management, the chamber of commerce and a number of councillors voiced their opposition, principally because the town had more than a dozen pools already.
However, it was strongly backed by the town’s longest serving councillor, Labour councillor Seán O’Grady, and the casting vote of the then mayor, councillor Tom O’Doherty of Fianna Fáil, led to approval. Fellow Fianna Fáil Cllr Brian O’Leary voted against it. The current mayor of Killarney, Michael Gleeson, a former Labour Party member, had also supported it.
To pay for the pool, the town council sold a town centre car park as a site for the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism’s decentralised headquarters for €4 million, and it borrowed €3.5 million.
Much of the remainder of the money was secured in grant aid, and included more than €5 million under the sports capital grant and swimming pool programmes. The centre’s location on the eastern industrial side of Killarney, over a mile from the town centre. was also felt to have been problematic.