‘We cannot operate the pool without qualified staff’ Swimming Pool closure in Tipperary a big issue

The Tipperary Town swimming pool, known as Sean Treacy Memorial Swimming Pool, was closed last Sunday due to staff shortages.

The same situation arose on Saturday and Sunday the previous week as well.

Further closures over the coming weekends are now to be expected due to ongoing staff shortages.

The issue was raised at the February meeting of the Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District meeting as part of the District Administrator’s Report - with staff shortages cited as the factor. The weekend is one of the busiest times for swimming pools across Ireland with many people choosing the pool as a recreational and educational activity.

The Tipperary Town pool is a key hub for swimming in west Tipperary with the amenity popular among many in the surrounding hinterland from areas such as Bansha, Cashel, Cahir and Rosegreen. 

Lifeguards are critical to the safe operation of swimming pools as they provide a secure environment for people to enjoy water activities and learn to swim.  Despite recruitment campaigns to find additional staff in Tipperary, the closure highlights the skills shortages in the county.

The issue is not just a local one however as currently there are backlogs for swimming lessons in many regions nationwide.
In some areas, children can be kept waiting to access swimming lessons for a number of months or even years in many cases, partly due to the pandemic-related closures in recent times.  

In the most recent recruitment campaign to find staff in Tipperary Town that were qualified to operate the pool, only two applications submitted for the role and of those, just one individual was qualified to work in the pool area. 
The council is trying to address the skills shortage in the area but this may take some time, and further closures over the coming months are likely.

Finding staff at present is paramount for the council. 

“It’s a huge challenge,” Anthony Coleman admitted before adding that it just wasn’t possible to open the pool to the public on certain days under the circumstances.

He said: “Obviously we cannot operate the pool without qualified staff and there has to be a minimum number, so it was very unfortunate,” he said. 

“The manager and staff of the pool were very disappointed they had to make that decision,” he said before pointing out that the situation is being addressed with the utmost importance.

“We will be running an additional lifeguard course so we would encourage people to take that so that could be a feeder system for people to apply when we advertise again in the coming months,” he said. 

Some of the regular staff at the pool are currently out on sick leave while some part-time staff are in college at present, which compounds the problem of short-term staff shortages.   To train qualified personnel, a lifeguarding course will be run over the coming months in the swimming pool. 

The council is hoping for a good uptake on the lifeguarding course. Securing personnel that can fill the required roles at the swimming pool is what is needed in order to prevent further closures.