The Enniskillen Lakelanders
THE AWARD WINNING Enniskillen Lakelanders Swimming Club will have to wait another few weeks to see if their prices for using the Lakeland Forum will be brought back to ‘sustainable’ levels.
Despite sitting at the policy and resources committee meeting for over five and a half hours members of the Enniskillen club and Strule Dolphins in Omagh remain unsure of their future, with the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council agreeing to defer the final decision.
In the interim period costs of £8.40 per lane per hour have been agreed for both clubs, an increase of 100% on what the Lakelanders paid up to March 31 this year. It is a significant reduction for the Omagh club though, previously charged £20 per lane per hour at the Omagh Leisure Complex.
A motion was put to the new council last week to rescind charges that were imposed at the General Purposes Committee on February 11. The change in price had meant a 357% increase for the Lakelanders from £4.20 per lane per hour to a colossal £15.
Speaking after Thursday’s meeting, which ran until 12.40am Lakelanders chairman Michael O’Kane said that despite the significant reductions in the interim the prices were still not manageable.
“That’s still a 100% increase for us, which we couldn’t sustain. We would see every pound that goes on to the £5 proposal as impacting on the members of the club that least can afford to pay it.” The group propose an increase of 20% to £5.
Already Michael has noticed a marked difference in training, with a 30% decrease in lane hours over the Easter period.
“In terms of what we’re doing now, we’re looking I think to take approximately 20 hours out a week so it will have a major impact.”
This could not come at a worse time for the club, with the national swimming championships in July.
“We have now seven swimmers in Fermanagh going to the Irish Championships, the division one section and then we have five or six going to the division two finals. It is a key time of the season for those guys .”
At Thursday’s meeting councillors spoke passionately of the huge contribution both clubs make to the lives of young people, able-bodied and disabled, as well as their achievements in competition at Ulster and national level.
Summing up the mood in the chamber, Cllr Barry Doherty of Sinn Fein said: “We wouldn’t have voted for this had we known the full extent of it.”
However as suggestions were being made on alternative prices, council chairman, Thomas O’Reilly, cautioned that it was a “dangerous precedent” to have individual clubs lobby on council charges.
He added: “I thoroughly object to setting rates for specific clubs who come in and lobby. I am in favour of relaxing this, but it must apply to everyone who uses the club.”
It was decided to set the temporary rates and revisit the issue at the next committee meeting, the General Purposes Committee on May 5 in Omagh.
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere