Buncrana Leisure Centre Campaign

20/10/2026

Is this really normal?
Left home at 4:37pm
Drove to Derry for a swimming lesson.
Arrived at 5:17pm

40 minutes each way.

The swimming lesson lasts 30 minutes.

Then… 40 minutes home again.

So that’s 1 hour 50 minutes of our evening for a 30-minute swimming lesson.

And this isn’t a criticism of the swimming facilities in Derry, we are incredibly grateful they’re there, but it really makes us mad, we drive past a perfectly good leisure centre every week.

For a county the size of Donegal, this is menat to be ok?

We have thousands of children across Donegal who need access to swimming lessons, not just for sport, but for water safety, an essential life skill & therapy.

There is only four, yes four public swimming pools in Donegal and that is just not acceptable.

That is one pool per 100,000 people.

Why should families in Inishowen have to spend almost 2 hours travelling for a 30-minute swim?

Donegal needs more accessible public swimming facilities and this is exactly why reopening Buncrana Leisure Centre really, really matters.

Our children deserve the opportunity to learn to swim closer to home 💙

Also todays calculations are based on a good day, some days could be a longer journey, depending on traffic etc

13/10/2026

*PLEASE COPY, PRINT & POST*

The more we send, the better!

We have to keep fighting. Please post this letter to Minister Charlie McConalogue

Copy from here ⬇️

____________________________________

Charlie McConalogue TD
Dáil Éireann
Leinster House
Kildare Street
Dublin 2

Dear Charlie,

I am writing to you as a member of the Inishowen community to ask for your support in securing the reopening of Buncrana Leisure Centre, a facility that has been closed for far too long.

Since the swimming pool closed in 2015, generations of children have grown up without access to a local public swimming pool. For a community as large as Inishowen, this is simply not good enough.

Our children deserve better. Families deserve better. Our older people, our schools, our sports clubs and our wider community deserve access to facilities that support health, wellbeing, inclusion and water safety.

Swimming is not just a leisure activity. It is a life skill that can save lives. Living in a coastal community surrounded by the sea, rivers and waterways, our children should have every opportunity to learn to swim and develop the skills that could one day protect them from drowning.

The closure of the leisure centre has placed an unnecessary burden on families who must travel outside the area to access swimming facilities. Not every family has the time, transport or financial means to do so. Our children should not be disadvantaged simply because of where they live.

Buncrana and Inishowen have a proud and resilient community. We have young people who need opportunities, families who need support and a population that deserves investment in its future. Reopening the leisure centre would provide a huge boost to our community, encouraging healthier lifestyles, supporting mental wellbeing and creating opportunities for people of all ages.

As a Donegal representative, an Inishowen man, I ask you to use your position and influence to help turn this long-standing community campaign into action.

I would like to see a clear commitment to the future of Buncrana Leisure Centre, meaningful engagement with the campaign and the relevant authorities, and a practical plan outlining the funding, steps and timescale required to reopen the facility.

Our community has waited since 2015. We cannot allow another generation of children to grow up without the opportunities that a local swimming pool would provide.

This is about more than a building. It is about our children's safety, our community's health and the future of Inishowen.

Please listen to the people of Buncrana and Inishowen and help us bring our leisure centre back to life.

I look forward to hearing what action you will take to support this important campaign.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Signature]

[Your Printed Name]

[Your Location]

08/10/2026

A huge moment for the Buncrana Leisure Centre campaign, with Charles Ward TD bringing the issue directly to the Dáil this morning

Challenging the Taoiseach and Charlie McConalogue on the match-funding commitment needed for Donegal County Council & addressing the essential need to bring this facility back to the 40,000 residents of the Peninsula.

11 years is long enough.

We don’t need more promises.
We need a date, a funding commitment and a plan to get the doors open again.

The people of Inishowen have waited long enough, now let’s get this over the line.

Lets bring some good news to Inishowen🙏

Fair play to Charles for bringing this issue up today.

What do you think of the response from minister Charlie McConalogue & the Taoiseach?

Donegal County Council

05/10/2026

A letter I've sent to Minister Charlie McConalogue to which I hope he reads & responds.

Dear Minister McConalogue,

I am writing to you not just as a constituent, but as a mother, as a member of the Buncrana community and as a proud Inishowen woman who desperately wants to see something change for our children.

Minister, you are a Donegal man. You are from Inishowen. You know this community, you know our people and you know how important water safety is to the families who live here.

That is why I am asking you, from the bottom of my heart, please help us bring a swimming pool back to Buncrana.

You have an opportunity to do something incredibly important here.

You can help create jobs.

You can help bring investment into our town.

You can give our children somewhere safe and accessible to learn to swim.

Most importantly, you can help save lives.

Buncrana has been without a swimming pool for far too long. This isn't simply about having somewhere to go for a swim.
It is about water safety. It is about giving our children a basic life skill.
A peninsula surrounded with water and yet no facility to learn a basic lifesaving skill.

My own children have to travel to Derry to access swimming lessons. That means hours spent travelling, depending on traffic, and money being spent across the border in the United Kingdom to provide our children with a skill that I firmly believe should be accessible to every child here at home.

It breaks my heart to think that children in Inishowen have to leave the country to learn something that could one day save their life.
And the frustrating thing is that Buncrana Leisure Centre isn't just an idea.

There has already been significant work done. Planning permission has been secured, preliminary design work has been completed and the project has already been progressed. Donegal County Council has confirmed that the project remains a live funding application and that it is on the reserve list for the Large-Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund.

So, Minister, I am asking you, please don't let Buncrana remain on a reserve list.

Please use your position and your influence to help move this project forward.
You recently spoke about the importance of investing in sports facilities and ensuring that people of all ages can participate in sport and physical activity.
You have also overseen increased investment in the Large-Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund, with €38 million allocated for 2026.
Only recently, Government announced additional funding to help progress a major regional aquatic project in Galway.

So please, Minister, look North West. Look home. Look at Buncrana.
We have the location, we have the plans and we have the need!

Imagine what it would mean to the people of this town to finally see that building come back to life.

Imagine children walking through those doors for their first swimming lesson.

Imagine parents no longer having to drive across the border.

Imagine local people getting jobs.

Imagine clubs and schools being able to use the facility.

Imagine the confidence, pride and happiness it would bring to a town that has been waiting for this for years.

And imagine what it would mean to know that you, a Donegal man and an Inishowen man, helped make it happen.

I know politics is complicated. I know budgets are tight. I know there are countless projects competing for funding.

But sometimes you have to look beyond the paperwork and see the people.

See the children.

See the parents sitting in cars travelling miles for swimming lessons.

See the community that has kept fighting for this facility.

And see the potential to leave something genuinely meaningful behind.

You have the opportunity to be the person who helps unlock this.

You can help turn years of disappointment into something positive.

You can help restore faith that our children and our rural community's matter.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Minister, please dig deep, find the funding and help us bring Buncrana Leisure Centre back.

Don't let another generation of Inishowen children grow up without a swimming pool.

Please make this one happen.

You can make a real difference here and I genuinely hope you choose to.

Yours sincerely,

Jade O'Neill-Doherty

Buncrana, Inishowen

02/10/2026

THIS IS BEYOND FRUSTRATING.

BUNCRANA LEISURE CENTRE, LOOK AT IT.

This was once a facility for our community. A place where children learned to swim, families exercised, people stayed active and generations of local people made memories.

And now?

It sits behind a fence, closed, neglected and surrounded by construction equipment while works are being done to the roads out front.

The place is falling to rack & ruin, its an eye sore!

Located on one of the busiest tourist areas of Buncrana, the shore front and this is what we are greeted with, this & the old FOTL factory 🤣

You couldn't make it up!

Beautiful Buncrana, neglected in more areas than enough.

Our community is crying out for proper leisure and swimming facilities.

How is this acceptable?

How long are the people of Buncrana and Inishowen expected to wait?

We need action.

Our children deserve somewhere safe to learn to swim.
Our families deserve access to proper facilities.
Our older people deserve somewhere to stay active.
And our community deserves better than watching a valuable facility deteriorate.

BUNCRANA DESERVES A LEISURE CENTRE.

It's time to stop talking about it and start making it happen.

Donegal County Council Jack Murray Joy Beard Charlie McConalogue Fionán Bradley

30/09/2026

How long is it going to take? Isn’t 11 years enough?

Last week wrote to Minister O'Donovan in relation to funding for the long awaited Buncrana Leisure Centre and I have copied in relevant organisations, looking for their support to secure a clear decision and a route to delivery for the new Buncrana Leisure Centre.

Letter below for information:

--ooOOoo--

Dear Minister O'Donovan

I am writing to request a clear Government commitment to provide 100% central capital funding for the new Buncrana Leisure Centre.

Buncrana is Donegal’s second-largest town, yet it has been without a public swimming pool since April 2015, shockingly for more than 11 years. The former leisure centre is now derelict. For over a decade, children, schools, clubs, people with disabilities, older people and families throughout Buncrana and the wider Inishowen peninsula have been left without a local swimming facility.

This is not acceptable, and the core issue is the absence of a Government funding decision.

Donegal County Council and the Buncrana Leisure Centre Committee have progressed the project for years. Part 8 planning approval was secured in January 2024. The Council completed preliminary design work and submitted a detailed application to the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund in July 2024.

However, Buncrana did not receive construction funding in the first LSSIF allocation announced in November 2024. The project was instead placed on a reserve list, with an indication that it may only be funded if additional money becomes available.

A reserve list is not a delivery plan for a community that has already waited more than 11 years.

While Government has since provided support towards the detailed design stage, construction funding remains uncommitted. The project cannot progress to delivery without a firm decision from central Government.

The existing funding model requires Donegal County Council to provide a substantial co-funding contribution, estimated at approximately €5 million. Donegal County Council does not currently have the funding available to meet that requirement.

This should not be allowed to become the reason Buncrana is left waiting for another decade.

The Government must recognise that Inishowen is not facing ordinary circumstances. We are at the epicentre of the defective concrete crisis. Thousands of families are dealing with damaged homes, demolition, rebuilding, displacement, financial strain and years of uncertainty. The impact on families and communities is immense.

The mental-health consequences are serious and well evidenced. Peer-reviewed Ulster University research into families affected by defective concrete found severe depression in 30.4% of participants, severe anxiety in 26.2%, and suicidal thoughts in 35.5%. These are not figures that can be ignored. Communities living through this crisis need meaningful investment in facilities that support health, wellbeing, recovery, inclusion and connection.

A new Buncrana Leisure Centre would do exactly that.

It would give children a local place to learn to swim. It would support schools that currently must arrange travel outside the area for swimming provision. It would provide facilities for clubs and community groups. It would support people with disabilities, older people, rehabilitation and people who need accessible, low-impact exercise. It would provide a safe, affordable place for families to be active and connected.

There is also a compelling water-safety case. Water Safety Ireland’s provisional figures show Donegal had the highest drowning rate in Ireland in 2024, at 6.6 per 100,000 population. We are a coastal peninsula, surrounded by beaches, rivers and waterways. Swimming is not a luxury in this context. It is a life skill and a water-safety skill.

The Government’s National Swimming Strategy 2024–2027 commits to ensuring that every person has an opportunity to swim, regardless of age, ability or location. It commits to improved swimming infrastructure, greater access and inclusion, more children becoming competent swimmers and stronger water safety.

Buncrana’s continued lack of a pool directly contradicts those national ambitions.

This is why I am asking the Government to treat Buncrana Leisure Centre as an exceptional project and to provide 100% central capital funding, including the co-funding element that Donegal County Council cannot currently meet.

The people of Buncrana and Inishowen have waited long enough. What is now required is a Government decision to fund it fully and allow construction to begin.

I would welcome an urgent meeting with you and relevant officials to discuss a clear funding route and timetable for delivery.

I am copying Swim Ireland and Water Safety Ireland, and ask that they support this call in light of the serious gap in swimming provision, water-safety education and inclusive aquatic opportunity across Buncrana and Inishowen.

Cllr Joy Beard
100% Redress Party
Donegal County Council

26/07/2026

Swimming: A game-changer for ADHD kids! 🌊

13/07/2026

Sitting watching the crowds enjoying the beauty of Lough Swilly during this incredible spell of sunshine, really makes you wonder why learning to swim isn't treated as an essential life skill from the very beginning.

It is heartbreaking that a peninsula surrounded by water STILL doesn't have the public swimming facilities needed to teach children and adults how to swim safely.

This isn't just a Buncrana issue, communities across Inishowen need access to proper facilities where people can learn vital water safety and lifesaving skills.

Swimming isn't a luxury, it's a life skill. Every child deserves the opportunity to learn to swim, build confidence in the water, and know what to do in an emergency.

So when will the Government step in and invest in our community?
When will Buncrana Leisure Centre receive the funding it deserves so that thousands of people across Inishowen can learn to swim and stay safe in the waters that surround us?

How many more warnings do we need before action is taken? We shouldn't have to wait for another tragedy before investing in prevention.

Our community deserves better.
It's time to invest in water safety.
It's time to invest in Inishowen.

As beautiful and all is it, the water is extremely dangerous ❤️

Charlie McConalogue Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD Donegal County Council

10/07/2026

Right come on, get the wanes shovels 🤣

01/07/2026