SPORT FUNDING:MORE THAN €5 million in State funding has been given to the Killarney sports complex which former ceann comhairle John O'Donoghue said he "helped to build" when speaking after losing his Dáil seat on Sunday night.
Speaking at the Kerry South count centre on Sunday after being eliminated on the fourth count, Mr O’Donoghue said: “I hope that the irony will not be lost upon you, that I stand here on my evening of defeat, in a hall, this magnificent sports complex, which I helped to build”.
Mr O’Donoghue, a former minister for sport, officially opened the €16 million Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre in 2009.
The centre boasts a 25-metre pool, gym, fitness studios and the largest indoor sports arena in Co Kerry. The centre, which is operated by a private company on behalf of the town council, has proved controversial and its pool has struggled financially. Hoteliers, whose pools are in competition with the subsidised facility, threatened legal action last year on grounds of unfair competition.
Within a year of opening in mid-2008, the management company pulled out after the council refused to underwrite projected losses. A new management company has since been engaged, but the council planned to spend €500,000 last year in support of the project. Local people raised €175,000 for the project but the bulk of the finance came from the department, Killarney Town Council and the National Lottery. The 4.2 acre site was donated by Kerry County Council.
The council has spent €8 million on the centre, including €4.3 million from the sale of a car park used to provide a site for the decentralisation of the department.
Mr O’Donoghue helped to deliver a further €5.3 million in State funding from the Sports Capital and Local Authority Swimming Pools fund.
