Mayo councillor calls for energy masterplan for Castlebar swimming pool

A CASTLEBAR councillor has called for an energy masterplan for the town's swimming pool after claiming the building is one of the biggest consumers of energy in Connacht.

Fine Gael councillor Ger Deere made his comments at the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council where he supported a motion by Ballina councillor Mark Duffy for the local authority to appoint an energy officer.

Mayo County Council launched its five-year climate action plan at Crossmolina fire station before Monday's monthly meeting of the council which took place in The Dolphin Hotel in Crossmolina.

During the meeting Independent councillor Mark Duffy called for the council to follow up on the recommendations of the climate action plan and appoint an energy officer to help reduce the energy costs of Mayo County Council buildings.

He was supported by Castlebar-based councillor Ger Deere who said the new Castlebar swimming pool at Lough Lannagh was one of the biggest users of energy.

“The building which uses the most energy probably in Connacht at the moment is under our control is the leisure complex in Castlebar. I find it strange to believe there are no solar panels on the swimming pool which uses the most energy in the county if not Connacht. I want to know a little bit more of what is the energy masterplan for the swimming pool,” he asked.

Cllr Deere who is involved with Castlebar Tidy Towns added the organisation have been engaging with SEAI to look at implementing an energy masterplan for the county town.

“It is frightening the amount of energy lost in buildings. We want to be leading the example and I strongly support the employment of an energy officer. This is the way forward. We could save ourselves a fortune if there was an energy officer working with all groups but we need to be leading it with all our buildings,” he argued.

The meeting heard that Mayo County Council's energy spend has increased from €2.9 million in 2020 to €4.2 million in 2023. Cllr Duffy said that there was a lot of wastage in council buildings at the moment and the appointment of an energy officier will ensure they run a 'tighter ship'.

“We can run a much tighter ship in terms of the costs we are carrying with energy and that is identified by the strategy so we have full control over all the public buildings we have. There is a huge amount of wastage but there is also a lot we can do in terms of investment and retrofitting to reduce the bills and carbon footprint and the costs associated with each building and put it back to community use,” he said.

Chief Executive of Mayo County Council, Kevin Kelly told the meeting that nobody could argue with the motion to reduce energy costs and he looked forward to talking to members in the next council regarding this.