Minister pushes for pool’s reopening at Hillside Centre
The Disabilities Minister has urged the HSE to find funding to reopen a hydrotherapy pool in Cavan Town this year.
The pool, used as part of treatment of a range of disabilities, was built at the Hillside Centre on the Crosskeys Road. It was used for just six months after it opened in 2018 and has lain empty since.
The situation came to light during a visit by Minister Anne Rabbitte in April.
“We walked into the room by accident. It was not part of the visit; I just happened to ask about a wing in the facility,” she said in the Dáil in recent days.
Enable Ireland, which runs the centre, has submitted a business case to the HSE in a bid to secure funding to reopen the pool and cover the ongoing costs associated with it.
It told the Celt annual funding of €56,585 is needed to employ a lifeguard and meet running costs.
Costing €440,000 to build, local groups and families were among those to raise funds to cover construction. Cost savings on behalf of Enable Ireland also went towards construction.
A lifeguard that had been employed left the post after six months and Enable Ireland said the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic had delayed its reopening.
The HSE has since told local TDs Niamh Smyth and Brendan Smith that it will examine the case as part of the organisation’s budget for 2023.
However, Minister Rabbitte urged the HSE to find cost savings to reopen the facility this year, saying that “having the pool lying idle is wilful neglect of the people of the area”.
“In terms of cost related savings, it should look to see what is available at this moment in time. We should not wait until 2023 to paint walls or put water back into the pool.
“I do not think we need to ponder too long on this because funding was awarded in the past and should be awarded again.”
Responding to the Minister’s comments, Deputy Niamh Smyth said “there are questions to be answered”.
“It is not good enough to say that Covid is the reason why a hydrotherapy pool has lain idle for the past four years… I do not buy that and I think it is an excuse that can be used.”
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