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“Roscrea People In Winners Enclosure”, the words expressed by Cllr Michael Smith on Wednesday last at a special function at the Damer Court Hotel, Roscrea, in recognition of €200.000.00 donated by the JP McManus Foundation to complete works at the new Roscrea Swimming Pool facility.
Chairman of the Roscrea Swimming Pool Company, Cllr Denis Ryan expressed his gratitude to the JP McManus Foundation for their generosity and support of such an important project for Roscrea. The Chairman acknowledged the great kindness of all the other groups including R.CT.L.C, The Credit Union and The County Council with fundraising for the pool and said their contributions will be certainly be recognised more formally in the weeks to come.
Cllr Ryan then paid tribute to the Smith family and particularly Michael Smith Snr for all his efforts to help get a swimming pool established in Roscrea. Cllr Ryan said Michael Smith was obviously very close to the McManus family and this close relationship no doubt played a major part in the JP McManus Foundation making such a generous donation.
Also in attendance were David Kiernan (CEO ST Anne’s Roscrea) and Patsy King (Manager, St Cronan’s, Roscrea). Both expressed their gratitude to the JP McManus Foundation for providing money that will be used to fit-out of the swimming pool in a user friendly way for people with special needs and particularly those with physical impairment. David Kiernan added that St Annes’ was delighted to see such a fantastic facility as the swimming pool coming to fruition in the town and Patsy King echoed these sentiments and briefly outlined the significance with regards cost savings etc for St Cronan’s by having a pool located in Roscrea.
In conclusion Cllr Michael Smith said that “Many a person from Roscrea has had a successful flutter on Istabraq, but the Roscrea people in general are in the winners enclosure this time”. “We are today” said Clr Michael Smith, “accepting a most generous payment from the JP McManus Foundation of €200,000. Cllr Smith said that Mr JP McManus and his Foundation have no direct connection with Roscrea and yet have been most generous to us and we are most grateful. It has taken many years to assemble the €9 million to build the swimming pool and leisure centre and it is absolutely fantastic to be receiving these monies to help us jump over the final hurdle”, concluded Clr Michael Smith.
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