Swimming project is 'long-term'

Swimming in the Liffey and (inset) Tony Gahan.

The project to provide a dedicated swimming area for Kilcullen will be long-term before it comes to fruition, the July meeting of KCA heard, writes Brian Byrne. "We're at the bottom rung of the ladder and can only keep climbing," project leader Tony Gahan said.

He noted that, following representations from Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer, Kildare County Council had already appointed an assessor to report on the Liffey areas where such an area might be located. He said the consultant had been in touch with him, but he expressed concern at the meeting that the survey was being carried out just upstream of the bridge. 

Near the bridge is 'too shallow'.

"That's too shallow for swimming," he pointed out. He added that there were lots of steps and 'hoops to go through' in progressing the project, even though traditional swimming places at what's now the Riverside estate and New Abbey across from there had been used for eighty-plus years.

"We're just going to have to soldier on, and it's my intention to keep at it.”

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Designated bathing area sought for Kilcullen

File photos: Kilcullen Diary.

Waterways Ireland and Kildare County Council have carried out a risk assessment on potential designated bathing areas in the Liffey at Kilcullen, writes Brian Byrne. This follows requests from local swimming enthusiasts to have an official swimming location established.

The initiative is one of a list of project ambitions produced by Kilcullen Community Action earlier this year. Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer, who says it is 'a worthy project worth pursuing', has previously walked the Liffey area with representatives from the Kildare Sports Partnership, "to start the discussion about various locations."

Following the recent assessment visit by Waterways Ireland and KCC, the next phase in this project is an environmental impact analysis, followed by a water quality analysis to ensure there is good water quality if people are going to swim. At that point, a detailed design would be done and costings assessed.

The matter has come into sharp focus with the current and earlier heatwave spells, with scores of mainly young people cooling off at what were traditional swimming places in the river, but which are now fenced off from public access. 

KCA's Tony Gahan, a keen swimmer, is leading the call for Designated Bathing, suggesting that a pontoon structure that would rise and fall with the flood could be located on the Riverside Manor bank side of the river. The location had a temporary wooden dock for many years while the new Kilcullen Canoe Club premises were being constructed as part of the Market Square development in the late 2000s. It fell into disrepair when it was no longer needed by the club and was dismantled for safety reasons several years ago.

A request that KCC designate a generationally popular swimming spot at Carnalway, made by Cllr O'Dwyer last year, didn't succeed. Identified bathing waters are monitored, managed, and assessed under the requirements of the 2008 Bathing Water Quality Regulations. The regulations followed the transposition of the Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC) into Irish law in 2008, aimed at enhancing the protection of bathers' health and introducing stricter standards for water quality. Local authorities are required under the legislation to identify such locations.

In 2024, KCC sought public assistance in identifying such locations so a profile of each could be developed, including an assessment of the risk of pollution and what action would be taken if pollution occurs. Among details requested from the public were how swimming areas have been used up to now, how many people use the site, what facilities (eg, signage, parking, toilets, etc.) exist at the site, how accessible it is, and what safety issues exist. 

To our knowledge, there are as yet no Designated Bathing Waters in County Kildare.

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Curragh swimming pool reopens to public groups

Fianna Fáil Senator for Kildare South, Fiona O’Loughlin, has confirmed that the Curragh military swimming pool can reopen for use by local schools and community groups due to the recruitment of sufficient lifeguards, writes Brian Byrne.

The pool had previously been accessible to local schools, swimming clubs, and Defence Forces families, but has remained closed to the public since the COVID-19 pandemic. It underwent renovations in September 2024, costing nearly €300,000. However, the Defence Forces couldn’t recruit enough lifeguards at the time, preventing the public from using it.

Senator O’Loughlin confirmed that two full-time and two part-time lifeguards are now in place, allowing the pool to reopen.

She says it has been a “long-fought battle” to bring a public asset back into service and that she remains committed to securing funding and resources for a public swimming pool in Newbridge. "Kildare needs amenities that match its growth, and the reopening won’t stop this campaign."

Interested schools and community groups should contact estatemanagementcurragh@defence.ie to ask about pool availability.

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Kilcullen swimmers take bronze in CG All Ireland

The Kilcullen Community Games Swimming Under 16 team won a bronze medal in the All Ireland Community Games Swimming Event on Saturday last, the 6th of July, in the Watershed in Kilkenny, writes Jean Mahon of the Kilcullen Community Games Committee.

The team consisted of Xavier Mahon, Tiarnan Donnelly, Daniel McNamara, Felix Mahon, Jack Higgins, and Conall Hoey (missing from the photo).

Well done to the boys, a great achievement.

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Local swim group supports Wicklow lifeboat

Image: Swim Smooth Ireland.

Members of a local swim training group, Swim Smooth Ireland, presented a cheque for €14,090 to RNLI Wicklow Harbour last Sunday, writes Brian Byrne. It brought to more than €46,000 the total raised for the lifeboat station by the group over the last four years.

Swim Smooth Ireland is run by Kilcullen resident Maxine Strain, who coaches swimmers and triathletes for open water swimming. The squad operates out of Killashee Hotel's swimming pool, but summer training is carried out in the sea at Wicklow, hence the group's affinity with RNLI Wicklow Harbour, to which it has been the largest donor over the past four years.

The latest donation is the result of a pre-Christmas sponsored swim event at Killashee Hotel last December, which involved 50 swimmers participating in 5 km or 10 km swims over a period of four hours.

Swim Smooth Ireland was established by Maxine in 2020 following a rigorous coach training stint at the Swim Smooth global HQ in Perth, Australia. Raised in South Africa, where she spent most of her spare time in pools both for leisure and competition, Maxine became a passionate advocate of open water swimming when she emigrated to Ireland. In her original swim teaching and coaching business AquaSchool and now under the Swim School banner, Maxine offers premium swim video analysis, 1-to-1 swim coaching, adult squad swims, triathlon coaching, and swim clinics for triathlon clubs and groups.

For more information about Swim Smooth Ireland or to join future events, contact Maxine Strain at info@swimsmooth.ie or on their website www.swimsmooth.ie.

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