This article is from page 4 of the 2009-05-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE County Council have de- fended the amount of money spent on the new Lahinch Lifeguard Centre, saying that the state of the art facil- ity will be looked upon as value for money by future generations.
The centre, which was officially opened last Friday by Mayor of Clare, Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG), cost the local authority €340,000, almost €110,000 more than the con- tracted price signed with the devel- oper in March of 2008.
The overrun is believed to have come about as a result of the cost of creating a suitable ESB connection to a sub-station at the far end of the Lahinch promenade, the installa- tion of a speaker system for public announcements and the addition of CCTV cameras at the station.
The increased cost of the facility was criticised by a number of local politicians with north Clare council- lor Martin Conway (FG) calling for a full breakdown of the costings of the facility to be produced by Clare County Council.
“We are getting fantastic value for money with this facility and I think that this facility will be a blueprint that other councils will follow when the overall financial situation 1m- proves,’ said Liam Griffin, Water Safety Officer with Clare County Council.
‘There is a huge investment in fa- cilities like fire stations around the country and I think that centres like
the one here in Lahinch will become more common. There is no putting a cost on human life and I think that in 30 or 40 years from now people will look back on this investment and see that we got good value for money. The new centre was constructed by Ballinasloe based contractor Mota Engil Ireland Construction Ltd and features an observation room, an external viewing deck, a wet room, medical and first aid facilities, a toi- let, store room, shower room and an
external shower. It is being described by the builders as Ireland’s largest lifeguard centre.
“It’s a fantastic facility, it’s the first of it’s kind anywhere in the country,” continued Mr Griffin.
“Tt will allow the lifeguards to do their job using the best facilities and will be a comfortable place for anyone who will need to use it or be treated in the first aid centre. The lifeguards do a very professional and very important job. This centre has a
fantastic overview of the entire beach and an excellent PA system for crowd control situations.”