Corbally Baths on the banks of the river Shannon is located in Limerick City. It was used as a safe and clean bathing area available to everyone for many years with river water freely flowing through it. Unfortunately in the 1990's? it fell into disrepair. Rather than renovating it, the changing rooms were bulldozed into the bathing pool. The rubble sitting in the baths has resulted in a build up of silt and debris and the river water that once flowed freely now no longer can and is of such poor quality that bathing is not recommended.

This area is of immense local importance and should be treated as such. It is an vital recreational amenity for families. So many people have very fond memories of their parents bringing them there to play and learn to swim.  

It was the location of the historic Christmas Day Swim. This is the only Christmas Day swim held as a competitive race in the country, and boy does it get competitive! Crowds of hardy swimmers and onlookers would gather there on Christmas morning and as a result of the good cheer the traditional sing song was a must with renditions of "There is an Isle" a high light.

Sadly the pool has been forgotten and is the site for much anti-social behaviour. The people of Limerick want the City Council to commit to cleaning this up. Once cleaned out the water will flow back through. There is so much potential for the baths as a focal point for a city that in recent years has created a whole festival around the river Shannon i.e. Riverfest. There has also been great commitment to getting people active to manage weight and mental wellbeing in recent years with Limerick Sports Partnership doing great work to promote exercise in all it's forms. What better way to get people to get out in the fresh air and be active and in a beautiful setting like the Corbally Baths. 

Other counties have invested in renovating and maintaining old baths to bring a new love of swimming to their locality. Look at Clontarf Baths in Dublin for instance, this sea water fed pool had fallen into disrepair and is now a fantastic amenity. Others have used the natural surroundings to make swimming friendly areas, Thomastown in Kilkenny only in the last 3 years have created a safe and clean river water pool fed from the river Nore. There are many others that use the natural waterways, such as Portumna on Lough Derg, Arvagh in County Cavan and Belmullet tidal pool in Mayo. Our natural waterway is the river Shannon, the baths are already there so it would not be a huge jump to make it swimable again.

Bring back the Baths!