Can’t get to a pool? Swim Ireland can bring a ‘Pop-Up Pool’ to you

Ashley Hunter, head of participation at Swim Ireland tells Kathy Masterson more about the Pop-Up Pool initiative.

The pools stay in a location for five to six months, which enables us to have as much impact as we can. When the third pool is up and
running, there will be a pool moving to a different location every two months.

Our procedure for identifying suitable locations goes two ways: a local authority or local sports partnership can approach us and request information on the pool, and to host it. Or, Swim Ireland will look at locations that have poor provision for swimming, and we will approach the local authority in that area.

The first step (for community workers seeking a pop-up pool for their area) is to engage with an executive or council member in your local authority, or your local sports partnership, and have a conversation to see if it’s a possibility.

It costs €25,000-€30,000 to move the pool each time. There’s a considerable amount of work involved. While it is a temporary structure, there are water and electricity connections, there are groundworks, you have to get planning permission. It’s a substantial structure.

The local authority and the local sports partnerships work to identify locations and find a suitable site. Then we will engage with the local
schools and community groups to let them know how it works, and the costs. Then we will start to engage with the general public and let them know about the general swimming sessions, and the Learn to Swim programmes – we run a variety of different programmes.

Swim Ireland purchased the first pool, and the marquee and equipment as part of a pilot initiative, which was supported by the Department (of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media). The pools were funded by the Department through Sport Ireland.

We don’t receive funds for the running costs of the pool, but there are some funding streams that are allocated to the pop-up pools. We
work collectively with the local councils and local sports partnerships in funding and running the pools.

We reach out to the harder-to- reach groups, like the lower socio-economic groups, and support them to bring their members to the pool.
We try to reduce our costs where we can so that the pool is affordable for schools and community groups.

The pools are fully accessible. They have a ramp, a hoist, and large changing areas. The water is heated to 30 degrees, and the temperature
inside the marquee is heated as well, so it’s a really pleasant environment. We work with a huge number of people with physical disabilities,
visual impairment, learning difficulties, autism.

When the pool is in use by a particular group, it’s a private environment, so that works really well for people who are body conscious, or people with autism.  The feedback we get from people is that the private environment is a really big plus.

We recruit staff from the local communities where the pools are based as well. For applicants who are unqualified, we can provide lifeguard training. Or for anyone who hasn’t completed their swim teacher training, we can support them to do that. It gives people the ability to
seek work elsewhere when the pool moves on.

“The impact we’ve seen has been massive”

To date, the pool has been to Donabate in Co. Dublin, Blessington in Co. Wicklow, and Tobercurry in Co. Sligo. The impact we’ve seen has
been massive. The pools have been really well received by all parts of the communities using it.

We’ve heard so many stories from people about what it has meant to them. We’ve had schoolkids who had never been in a swimming pool
before, and we get them in, get them water confident. The mother of one child with autism said the pop-up pool changed the way he looked at
that type of environment, and he really enjoyed going.

A lot of people who have poor mobility have used the pools also – older people, or people who have injuries from accidents. One man who had chronic back pain after an accident used the pool every morning before work and he found it really helpful, he felt he was in less pain. That meant that he was then less reliant on healthcare services, he was able to reduce his physiotherapy visits. There are a long list of benefits, it’s a fantastic facility for everybody in the community.