Meath Local Sports Partnership (Meath LSP) today (Friday, 13th June) launched four new beach shelters in the Laytown/Bettystown area. The shelters will allow access for swimmers to change in comfort. The shelters have been put in place due to the significant growth in the popularity of outdoor swimming in recent years, yielding a breadth of physical and social wellbeing benefits.
Funding was made available to the Local Sports Partnership network in 2024, by Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing, and the National Drugs Strategy Hildegarde Naughton TD for outdoor swimming infrastructure projects.
Meath LSP were successful in their application to Sport Ireland (who administered the fund on behalf of the department) and were approved €23,000 for the development of the beach shelters in the Laytown/Bettystown area. Working in tandem with the staff team of the municipal district in Laytown/Bettystown, Meath LSP installed four shelters to improve access and facilities at the following outdoor swimming locations:
Within the grant provision, allocation was also made for the painting of the shelters.
In one of his first duties as Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council, Cllr Wayne Harding, along with fellow Cathaoirleach of Laytown/Bettystown Municipal District (MD), Cllr Sharon Tolan, officially opened the newly installed beach shelter at Netterville Terrace, Laytown.
Speaking at the launch, Cllr Harding expressed his thanks to Mary Murphy and her staff team in Meath LSP, Director of Laytown/Bettystown MD, Fiona Lawless, Executive Engineer of Laytown/Bettystown MD, Paul Tumelty, the outdoor staff team of Laytown/Bettystown MD for their commitment to developing outdoor infrastructure in the area; Carmel Halpin from Healthy Ireland, and Jhia Dunne and Rebecca Rolston from Swim Ireland. He also thanked the Laytown Wave Warriors for their patience at being discommoded while these shelters were being built.
Cllr Harding finished by quoting an incredibly grateful swimmer who sent the following message by way of thanks to Meath LSP:
“I wanted to send you a message to say thank you so much from myself and a contingent of other swimmers for our new beach shelter in Laytown (adjacent to The Foot Clinic; at the beach entry point near Inse Bay). We are beyond delighted! I have been sea swimming for some 3 years now (a newbie!) and I can honestly say it is of enormous benefit to my physical and mental health. I absolutely love it.
What I was not loving (as someone who walks rather than drives to the beach), was having my towel and coat soaked if it started to rain while I was swimming. Also, not a fan of chasing my gear when it took flight on the frequent windy days! The shelter is just fantastic! .”