Local Election candidate for Galway West, Pearce Flannery, has reacted angrily to the news that the board of Leisureland is to only receive an update from the facility’s management at a monthly meeting tomorrow, May 9.
“It has been a full month since board members were updated on the flood remediation works being undertaken at the site. What on earth have they been doing in the meantime?” queried Flannery.
“This is ridiculous and only goes to show clearly that the board are not on top of this issue. In the real world or in the private sector, hourly, daily, and weekly updates, progress reports, and targeted improvements would be demanded along with management and board incentivising exceptional progress in the remedial works,” he said. “Yet this board feel they can sit back and do nothing while thousands of local people are hugely inconvenienced by their apathy and lethargy. It is patently obvious that they do not care one bit about those that use the pool most.”
Pearce Flannery went on to state that the chairman of the board, Councillor Donal Lyons, was reported last Friday as saying members are due to be updated on the situation at tomorrow’s meeting. “If he was on top of this issue he would be making these demands, not me, and he would ensure that all involved, especially the aquatic sports community, were kept appraised of the situation. That is the responsibility of the chairman of the board and he has clearly abdicated his responsibilities in this regard.”
Flannery has called on Cllr Lyons and the board to meet with the swimming and water-polo clubs and help them in their search for alternative temporary pool facilities as there are major financial and operational issues at stake here. He stated that the board and management of Leisureland must show that they care about these matters and that they understand the issues at hand. “They should not be allowed to wash their hands of this issue,” he said.
The Leisureland complex was significantly damaged due to severe flooding in January, and the pool is likely to remain closed until October at the earliest due to required tiling work.
According to Pearce Flannery, insurance issues have arisen over the proposed retiling works and he said this is another clear example of the ineptitude of the current board. Mr Flannery also questioned the ability of the facility to get further insurance coverage and asked what contingency plans are in place for the storms that are certainly going to hit the area in future winter seasons.
Flannery conlcuded by saying: “The management of this facility is inept and the storm damage has turned from an act of nature to an act of gross neglect and dereliction of duty by all concerned with the governance of the Leisureland complex. The board as it stands is simply not fit for purpose.”
