Olympic gold medallist Daniel Wiffen has indicated he would like to see more 50-metre pools across the country, while work continues to secure funding for a pool currently in storage in County Cork.

The 23-year-old swimmer said one of the obstacles he faced as a child was the lack of such pools in Northern Ireland.

Wiffen was speaking as State Minister for Sport Thomas Byrne said Cork needed a 50m pool and encouraged the local authority to find a suitable location for a pool currently in reserve in the county.

Mr Byrne said his department would work with Cork County Councils and local councils to arrange running costs for the pool if they could secure a site.

In recent weeks it has been announced that Dolphin Swimming Club, based in Cork city, has purchased a 50m pool that was used for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The pool is currently in storage.

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Wiffen and the minister spoke at the launch of the first National Swimming Strategy at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin on Thursday.

Wiffen said life has been “crazy” since he returned home from the Paris Olympics.

“I can’t walk down the street without someone taking a selfie, but it’s okay,” he said.

“I get a lot of free stuff, I go to the butcher and I get free steaks all week. It’s all good for that.”

Wiffen said he believed Ireland could bring “double the medals” back to the LA Olympics in four years, adding that the swimming strategy was “moving in the right direction of what we need for pools and for younger swimmers in Ireland”.

Giuseppe Whelan, president of the Dolphin Swimming Club, recently said that the club does not yet have a location or funds to build a permanent home for the pool, but that it is “too good an opportunity to pass up”.

Mr Whelan said the club does not yet have a venue and does not have 30 per cent of the construction costs. As a result, the club does not currently meet the criteria for funding through the government’s Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). As a result, the club is looking at other options, including regional development funds and sponsorship.

The modular 50-metre training pool with six lanes was purchased earlier this year for €100,000, which was raised entirely by the club’s members.

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Mr Byrne said he would “strongly encourage” the local authority to find a site.

“We have a 50m pool here (in Dublin). We have one in Limerick. We need one in Cork and I encourage the local authority to come forward with proposals,” he said.

“If they can find a place to put this or a building to put it in, it doesn’t have to be too fancy – that’s the one thing we’ve learned from the Paris Olympics; we’ll certainly be working with Cork County Council on the running costs of swimming pools because that’s one of the issues that comes up in all discussions about swimming.”

Mr Byrne said there were “gaps” in the country’s swimming infrastructure that needed to be filled. He stressed that the €500,000 allocated by the government under the new strategy was to enable Swim Ireland and local authorities to hire swimming promoters, and not for capital works.

The Meath East TD said a capital programme would be announced separately in September, which would be “a record-breaking programme of great distance”, with sports across the country, including swimming, set to benefit.

“We look forward to important swimming projects receiving funding,” he added.