Councillor wants answers over new €2 million Galway project after last minute change
The move followed the collapse of planned upgrades elsewhere which has left a lot of questions to be asked
A Kilkenny councillor is seeking clarification on how a €2.1 million grant was redirected from their county to Galway, as revealed by Galway Live last week.
Galway Regional Aquatic Centre will be the grant’s beneficiary, after the Watershed advised that it ‘could no longer proceed with the project in the absence of further funding from Kilkenny County Council’
Councillor Seán Ó hArgáin has written to Kilkenny County Council seeking clarification over how a €2.1 million allocation under the Large-Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF), which had been allocated to the Watershed facility in Kilkenny, ended up being diverted for a facility in Galway.
It follows confirmation from the minister for state that the Galway Regional Aquatic Centre will be the grant’s beneficiary, on foot of an indication from the Watershed that 'the grantee advised that it could no longer proceed with the project in the absence of further funding from Kilkenny County Council to meet the significant increase in overall project cost’.
Cllr O’hArgain says he is a regular user of the Watershed facility and one of its strongest supporters since the centre opened in 2008. The Labour Party councillor also says he has expressed concerns over the funding of the Watershed since he came back into local elected office in 2024.
“While the centre is heavily used as the only municipal sports centre in our county, I share the concerns of most users in relation to the ongoing maintenance and presentation of the facility,” he said.
“Like all buildings of its age, it is now in need of better maintenance and modernisation. This is reflected in complaints from individual users and clubs and sporting organisations using the facilities.
“The fact that this major funding has been lost is a cause of concern. The reports say that Galway County Council were provided top enable them to meet the matching funding requirements for their facility, whereas our council seems to have been denied that access. I will seek clarification as to why this was the case.
“Non-working facilities must be addressed quickly when they occur and I will also continue to call for funding to be provided for a badly-needed hydrotherapy pool facility for people with special needs and the upgrading of the running track facilities to match regional and national competition standards with an eight lane track.”
The Watershed and Kilkenny County Council have been contacted for comment.