Council leisure centre's swimming pool project takes on water – as costs of eight-year project set to rise to €20m

Irish Independent

25-05-2025

The pool facility, in Lucan in west Dublin, has been dogged by delays — and the final price of the project is now expected to come in at around €20m.
When it was originally costed in 2017, South Dublin County Council expected the final bill to be around €12.985m.
A project schedule from the time said that once the contract was awarded, it should only take 14 months to construct. Construction got under way in May 2019, but the Covid pandemic, severe weather and a variety of other issues have seen the project go way beyond schedule, with completion dates pushed back at least a dozen times.
A series of updates to queries from councillors, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show how the opening day for the swimming pool and leisure centre kept shifting.
In late 2020, a local representative was told the handover date had been meant to be February 2021, but that this had been moved back to June 2021.
I'm satisfied the council has done everything in their power to expedite the project
An update said: 'The project has been significantly delayed due firstly to poor weather conditions in the early part of 2020 and then the enforced closure of the site for a number of weeks during the Covid national lockdown.'
In late 2021, another councillor was given an update, saying the completion date was now likely to be in April or May of 2022. That date then got pushed to August 2022, though even that proved hopelessly optimistic.
Local Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin asked in January 2023 when the pool was likely to be open and was told that June 2023 was now the target, and that this was 'very disappointing' to the council.
A letter to him said: 'As you will be aware, the project has been impacted significantly by various construction sector challenges.'
By last year, the project still wasn't complete — and in August 2024 councillors were told that the local authority was still working with the contractor to 'agree a revised programme'.
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In February of this year, Mr Ó Broin again sought an update and was told more resources were being provided to 'expedite project completion'.
A letter to him said: 'The council understands both the importance of this project to the local community and the frustration that the delays have caused.'
An update to councillors in January said: 'Completion of the project continues to be challenging, primarily; as noted previously, due to contractor resources and sub-contractor availability.
'We are continuing to intensively manage the project and main contractor to achieve the earliest possible completion dates.'
​South Dublin County Council had originally refused to provide details of how much they had so far spent on the project.
However, following an appeal under FoI laws, they disclosed that costs so far were €17.87m, which included €15.7m in payments to the main contractor.
A further €702,000 was paid to an architectural firm while fees of €33,919 were paid to Irish Water and just over €20,000 to ESB Networks.
That is unlikely to be the final bill, however, and local representatives have been warned that an overall cost of around €20m can be expected.
Parts of the facility are in use, but the main swimming pool has yet to be opened to the public.
'The ongoing delays have been enormously frustrating, but I'm satisfied that the council has done everything in their power to expedite the project,' said Mr Ó Broin.
'What I would say is the way in which procurement rules are imposed on local bodies is far too rigid. It means that when something goes wrong, it's very difficult to resolve those issues in a timely manner.
'The council has done a large number of capital projects, including housing and community facilities, and none of those have had the kind of delays that this centre has.'