The Mayor of Roscommon County Council, Cllr. John Kelly has called on the Oireachtas members in the county and particularly the Government TD Michael Finneran to act on the issue of Ballaghaderreen swimming pool becaus of fears that it might be 20 years more before there is anything done on the issue. Speaking to The Roscommon People yesterday (Wednesday) Cllr. Kelly says that the situation is ‘gone beyond a joke’ now. ‘ We know that the swimming pool list is now closed and the (government) department is not dealing with any new applications. They are now looking at what was left on the old list and we are on that but we have no hope of getting anything because the political will or political clout is simply not there’ he says. ‘What will happen soon is that a new list will be drawn up and we will be behind a lot of towns that have grown hugely in recent years and who have far more political clout and we will be right back down at the bottom of the list again. It could be twenty years more before we hear anything and I want to highlight this issue again. I am not prepared to let it die’ he continued. ‘The people of Ballaghaderreen have been treated disgracefully on this issue. We were told twenty years ago that if we raised a fifth of the cost of the pool we would be looked after. We went out and did that but we were then told that we would have to get a feasability study done and it is going on since then. We have €300,000 sitting in an account that has been raised locally and it is doubtful if it will ever be used the way things are going’ he said. ‘We have been lied to by a succession of politicans who have plenty to say in the run-up to elections but who abandon Ballaghaderreen when the election is over. We had election offices open here prior to elections but the minute the election is over the offices are closed and Ballaghaderreen is forgotten about again.’ Cllr. Kelly said that the people of Ballaghaderreen are sick and tired of all the lies and deception that has taken place on this issue. ‘I intend to keep this issue at the top of my agenda while I am mayor and I don’t care who I offend. I know the County Manager is doing all he can but the political will has to be there in order to get a swimming pool for the people of Ballaghaderreen. Even at this late stage I’m pleading with our local public representatives and the government TD Michael Finneran in particular to push hard on this issue. We are waiting twenty years and we don’t want to be waiting twenty more’ concluded Cllr. Kelly.
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