Northern Ireland Gets Green Light To Get Back In The Pool

Earlier this month we reported how, as of June 8th, key Irish swimmers to the tune of Shane Ryan, Brendan Hyland, Darragh Greene, Niamh Coyne, Conor Ferguson, Jordan Sloan, Jack McMillan, Callum Bain, Nick Quinn and Eoin Corby were able to dive back into their National Aquatic Centre Dublin pool.

Of the news at the time, World Championships bronze medalist Ryan said, “I am very excited to be getting back into the water on Monday,” starts Ryan’s statement. “It has been such a difficult period of time for athletes not knowing when we can return to training, and I fully understand and respect the difficult position that the government have [sic] been in over recent months.”

Swimmers located both in Northern Ireland, as well as at the National Aquatic Centre at the University of Limerick were still left out of the pool with that announcement; however, it appears that the tide is about to change for those aquatic athletes.

Per Swim Ireland today, June 25th, “the news our athletes in Northern Ireland have been waiting for looks to have come through today, meaning they can finally resume training in the pool next week.”

The organization continued, “It is understood the Northern Ireland Executive has agreed to allow elite athletes to resume training indoors from Monday 29 June. This includes having access to high-performance gyms, indoor sports courts and swimming pools.

“Athletes classed as elite include Olympians, Paralympians, professional rugby and football players and cricketers.

“Until now, they have only been allowed to train  outdoors, with some swimmers travelling to Dublin for indoor pool use.”

Of the news, Ireland’s National Performance Director for Swimming & Diving, Jon Rudd told SwimSwam, “This is fantastic news for our performance athletes based in the North, many of whom have been travelling to Dublin for training over the last three weeks – some almost daily.

“To be able to access pool training closer to home will make a massive difference to them.”

Looking ahead to remaining reopenings, Rudd said, “We expect the National Centre in Limerick to be operational early next week and so to have three Centres open North, West and East of the nation means we are in a great place to be able to service all of our higher-performing athletes.”

🏊‍♀️ The news our athletes in Northern Ireland have been waiting for looks to have come through today, meaning they can finally resume training in the pool next week.

Now we look forward to our clubs also returning soon 💪 #ReturntoWater pic.twitter.com/J9BA3zkX2K

— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) June 25, 2020