Letter to the editor: County council killing Mullingar business

Editor,

The executive of Westmeath County Council are continuing to kill business in Mullingar town centre. The latest council idea of moving the swimming pool to Blackhall is daft, when what are needed in Blackhall are houses and apartments to encourage people to live in the town centre. Dividing the sports complex over at least two areas will not meet the desire for a "state of the art, cutting-edge, high-quality" sports complex as stated by the previous chief executive.

A sports complex of this size and nature, including a full size swimming pool, needs to be all in one location such as the Robinstown site, which has been seen as the ideal spot for 20 years. Is the €1 million that has been spent planning for this area to be wasted?

It seems the only reason Blackhall is being mentioned for the swimming pool, whether it is the right place for it or not, is that more funding can be claimed for the location from The Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund. If the area around the council offices, including the staff car park, was the only area to qualify for this funding, would there be any talk of moving the swimming pool?

It has taken 20 years to get to this stage and by the time Westmeath County Council get around to actually doing the job, the price tag will be at least €100m.

In the meantime, the swimming pool in the town park should be renovated as it is ideally situated for school swimming lessons and general public use.

Yours, Des Walsh, 14 Oliver Plunkett Street, Mullingar.