As Swim Ireland reaches the midway point of our current Strategic Plan “An Island of Swimmers” we are taking a renewed and invested approach to supporting our Clubs, Regions and Competitions, recognising that the clubs are the heartbeat of the organisation.
This approach means a change to two of our departments to enable Swim Ireland to provide additional support.
The newly formed Clubs and Education department is led by Aisling Mc Keever, who having joined Swim Ireland in 2013 as Leinster Support Officer has a wealth of experience and knowledge with working and developing clubs. Aisling has progressed into leading the education department for the past three years and the merging of these two important areas is a strong fit.
Justin Deegan has recently joined Swim Ireland as Clubs Manager, with over 20 years of sport development and operational management experience. In mid-April Education Support Officer Samantha Kenny will join Vincent Finn as a Club Support Officer. With both having experience within Swim Ireland clubs as parents and volunteers, they are well placed to provide on the ground governance and development support to Swim Ireland clubs. Gillian Holland continues to provide Membership & Vetting administration support to clubs.
The Clubs team, who are in the process of contacting every club to ascertain their needs, have a host of new and exciting projects in the pipeline including The Athlete Hub that launched in recent weeks.
The team are also hosting a National Club Conference on Saturday 22 March in the Strand Hotel, Limerick, providing an opportunity for club committees to meet the team and engage with other club volunteers. More information available HERE.
Having led the Clubs and Competitions team for over 12-years, Adam Cox is now spearheading a new department, Competitions, Events and Disciplines. Competitions and Open Water Events have grown significantly over the last three years, with continued growth expected as we launch the 2025 National Open Water Series and a new Open Water Strategy. These areas are supported by Competitions Manager Pat Daly and Open Water Events Manager Mary Dunne, with recruitment now underway for a Competitions and Events Officer. Caroline Bentley rounds out that team as Leinster Competitions Officer.
The development of our disciplines (Open Water, Water Polo, Diving and Masters) is overseen by Damian Ball, who having acted as National Head Diving Coach at the last three Olympics is now shifting his focus to grassroots and national level development. Damian is supported by Kirstie Stevenson (Water Polo Officer) and Aveen Colvin (Water Polo Admin). As the development of disciplines continues, we expect to see additional roles in Discipline Development in the next Strategic Plan.
Speaking on this staffing review, Swim Ireland CEO Sarah Keane said: “Our clubs have bounced back strongly post-COVID with membership numbers for the 2024-2025 in line with 2019-2020 registrations. With this rebuilding brings both opportunity and challenge around recruiting and training volunteers; developing our clubs and aquatic disciplines; and continuing to invest in our competitions and officials. We believe the new staffing structure will bring a strengthened and more direct support where our clubs need it.”
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| I need help with… | Who can help me? | How do I contact them? |
| Club Affiliation
Membership database queries Membership payments Club transfers Associate membership |
Gillian Holland | clubs@swimireland.ie |
| My vetting application | Gillian Holland (Clubs)
Cathal Rafferty Walsh (Education) |
vetting@swimireland.ie |
| Insurance indemnity requests
General insurance queries |
Justin Deegan | clubs@swimireland.ie |
| Club committee and governance queries
Club issues, complaints and disciplinary queries Safeguarding queries |
Justin Deegan
Vincent Finn Samantha Kenny |
clubs@swimireland.ie |
| Primary contact for Club Children’s Officers | Kate Hills | katehills@swimireland.ie |
| Coaching courses
Swimming Official courses Team Manager courses Register of Aquatic Professionals CPD |
Cathal Rafferty Walsh
Samantha Kenny |
education@swimireland.ie |
| Teaching courses | Aaron Rickhuss | education@swimireland.ie |
| Any Water Polo queries, including competitions, education, officials, club support | Kirstie Stevenson | waterpolo@swimireland.ie |
| Primary contact for Diving, Masters & Open Water development | Damian Ball | damianball@swimireland.ie |
| Competition entries Competition accreditation
Competition queries |
Pat Daly | competitions@swimireland.ie |
| Open Water Event entries
Open Water Event queries |
Mary Dunne | marydunne@swimireland.ie |
| Regional Athlete Support Programmes
Club Cluster Skills Clinics Regional Squads |
Mark Lappin (Leinster)
Mark Craig (Ulster) Erin McNulty (Munster) Helen Gunning (Connacht) |
marklappin@swimireland.ie |
| National Squads
Anti-doping queries |
Niamh McDonnell | niamhmcdonnell@swimireland.ie |
