£0.5m North Kerry leisure complex to open in August
June 1995
A NEW £500,000 swimming pool, leisure centre and gymnasium is to be opened in North Kerry at the beginning of August, it was announced this week.
This new state-of-the-art facility is currently under construction at Ballyloughran House, four miles outside Ballybunion, and is expected to be completed by the end of the July.
Once finished, the new pool complex, together with existing amenities, will provide much-needed facilities for North Kerry, according to Manager of the Ballyloughran Centre, Margaret Boyle.
“Already, the Ballyloughran Centre boasts some of the finest residential, leisure and outdoor pursuits facilities in Ireland. The house has full catering facilities and can accommodate large or small groups, and an annexe providing wheelchair access and wheelchair1 facilities is currently under construction,” she told The Kerryman.
Ballyloughran House is owned by the Limerick Youth Service and already includes a £450,000 sports hall. It is used throughout the year an activities centre for youth clubs, school groups, sports clubs and offers weekend activity breaks for families and businesses.
With the one exception of a £10,000 grant towards the provision of a canoeing pool, the Youth Service has received no Government aid. The entire centre was built, renovated and expanded using loans and fund-raising and it is hoped that enough funding will be raised to finance this latest development at Ballyloughran.
“We are offering special limited membership to celebrate the imminent opening of the swimming pool. We’re hoping to raise some of the cost of the project in this way and the rest of it will have to be raised through fund-raising,” said Margaret Boyle.
The new leisure facilities at Ballyloughran will include a large heated 17.5 metre swimming pool, a sauna, steam room and fully-equipped gymnasium.
Mrs Boyle said that initially, members will be given priority and the management at Ballyloughran will then monitor how many hours the centre is being used each day, to ascertain the peak times and slack times.
By October, It Is likely that the swimming pool will then be opened to the public for a number of hours each week and possibly to school tours also.