With Coolock Swimming Pool closed indefinitely, is putting a pop-up pool nearby feasible?

With the Coolock Swimming Pool closed indefinitely, why not put up a pop-up swimming pool nearby? asked Social Democrats Councillor Paddy Monahan. 

The Coolock pool was closed on 9 December 2024 after Storm Darragh damaged its roof, leaving a void for many in the area.

The council asked around at other pools to see if groups from Coolock could swim there, instead.

While some groups did find alternative spots, others didn’t, like the Learn2Swim club, owned by Grace Hunt.

Hunt and her team of instructors had just under 700 children enrolled for lessons up until the unexpected closure of the pool, she says.

For her young students, including special needs groups, and their families, the alternative pool on offer, Markievicz Sports and Fitness Centre, didn’t work – the times available didn’t suit, and the location in Dublin 2 was too far to go.

Now the kids aren’t getting lessons, and the instructors have lost work, Hunt says. The pop-up pool could be a solution for them, she says.

While the council replied to Monahan that the idea wasn't feasible in Coolock, it has worked well elsewhere. 

Swim Ireland’s pop-up pool

It was at the monthly meeting of Dublin City Council on 7 April that Monahan, the Social Democrats councillor, raised the idea of a pop-up.

He asked council’s chief executive to “say whether, given the ongoing issues around Coolock swimming pool, Dublin City Council will consider the provision of portable swimming pools in Dublin this summer of the kind provided by Swim Ireland?”

He got a written response from Ger Carty, a senior sports development officer at Dublin City Council, to say they had contacted Swim Ireland, and putting up a portable pool near the Northside Shopping Centre, where the Coolock pool is, wouldn’t be feasible.

Carty’s response listed a number of challenges including the need for security, to put up a marquee to house the pool, to find a level site, to access water to fill the pool, to provide toilets, to install gas heating and electric services, and to hire a crane.

But Robert Burns, chief executive of Monaghan County Council since September 2023, and director for Housing and Community Development in Fingal before that, has managed it twice. 

Burns oversaw installation of Swim Ireland’s pop-up pool first in Donabate, and now in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. 

“I often think feasibility is a matter of will and funding,” he said on Thursday by phone.

He pointed to finding a site as the main hurdle, and said that security can also be a potential issue. “Then you’d have to question whether the cost would be justified,” Burns said.

The pop-up pool is now well-established and has been “de-risked”, Burns said. Having been hosted by several local authorities, it has been shown to be “generally feasible”.

Costs

Swim Ireland does not rent the pool – rather they enter into a partnership with a local council to share the costs of bringing the pool to site and operating it.

According to Swim Ireland’s Colin Armstrong, the cost of moving and erecting the pool on site is likely to be around €30,000 to €35,000. 

On top of that, there are site preparation costs, which can “vary considerably,” Armstrong said via WhatsApp on Wednesday.

Setting up the pool in Carrickmacross cost between €60,000 and €70,000, all-in, Burns said.

“That figure includes a contingency for demobilizing and taking it safely off-site when it’s time for the pool to move on,” Burns said. He added that the costs mentioned were for Monaghan, and that he couldn’t speak for the situation in Coolock.

That covered installation, ducting for services, levelling material and the provision of toilets – all issues flagged by Dublin City Council as part of the reason setting up the pop-up pool in Coolock was not feasible.

While Swim Ireland’s pop-up facility does have changing facilities, it doesn’t include toilets.

Included in the above figure, Monaghan County Council decided to buy toilet facilities for €5,000 rather than rent them, as they had already connected for water and wastewater, Burns said.

A 20-kilovolt ESB connection is also required to heat the pool.

The size and the site

The portable pool is relatively small at 12 metres by 3.4 metres, with a depth of 1.2 metres.

The reply Monahan, the Social Democrats councillor, got from Dublin City Council said that the smaller size “would be a constraint and would not cater for the current user groups in situ”.

However, for Hunt’s Learn2Swim club, this would be workable for her and the almost 700 of her students that are now without a pool, she says.

“Anything is doable, if the rent is kind,” Hunt said by phone on Thursday.

Finding an appropriate site for the pop-up pool is seemingly the main hurdle, overshadowing all other concerns.

Dublin City Council has proposed relocating swimming services from Northside Shopping Centre, the site of the old Coolock pool, to the nearby site of the existing Kilmore West Recreation Centre – where an entirely new pool would be built.

The council has not responded to queries sent on Wednesday morning on whether the site of Kilmore West Recreation Centre could host a temporary pop-up pool, or if a local school could host it within their grounds, among other options.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.