Swim club exodus to leave Leisureland in deep water

Five local aquatic clubs have vowed not to return to Leisureland if the operators of the Galway City Council owned swimming pool ploughs ahead with increased charges.

Two water polo clubs and three swimming clubs, collectively with as many as 700 members, have threatened to desert the facility if the executive of Leisureland implements planned price hikes.

The clubs have also warned they will ‘walk away’ from Leisureland if the executive of the Salthill centre proceeds with a proposal to take away their ‘teaching hours’. The clubs argue income generated from the lessons is used to subsidise the current charges at Leisureland, which they say are twice the national average, even before the proposed increases.

The row over price hikes at Leisureland, which has been closed since January due to storm damage, will come to a head this Friday morning (11am) when the board meets at City Hall.

The board have indicated they will resign ‘en masse’ in protest if the Leisureland executive (manager Paddy Martin and director of services, Tom Connell) ignores members’ proposals for a price freeze for clubs for six months.

Meanwhile, board member, Vincent Finn, of Swim Ireland, has warned that the five clubs will not return to Leisureland once it reopens in November if price hikes are implemented and if teaching hours are removed from clubs. Mr Finn said for the past 11 years Galway clubs have been discriminated against and have been paying twice the national average for usage of the facility.

He pointed out that the national average is €15 per lane per hour; while it is €10 in Castlebar, €12 in Longford and €10 in Sligo, which are all local authority pools. In Galway, the club rate is currently €30 per lane per hour but this is being increased by 10% to €33.

On top of that, a levy of €2 per person per session, will increase the cost of hourly lane hire by a further €14 because about seven members would use it, bringing the total to €47 per hour per lane.

“Leisureland is losing money hand over fist because it is not being run properly. It is overstaffed and under-utilised . . . Increasing charges and taking teaching lessons away from your best customers, the clubs, is not the way to turn it around. The clubs are 100 per cent not returning if the teaching hours are taken away and/or if the prices increase. It is the children who will lose out,” said Mr Finn.

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune.