80. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to provide the amount of funding allocated to local libraries, in each county, for the past four years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38310/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. I welcome the fact that €40 million has been spent on libraries. We all agree in this House that every euro spent on libraries is a euro well spent. I start by commending everybody in my hometown of Athy where over the past number of years a former Dominican church was converted into a library. Anyone who has visited that location will see it shows the benefit of converting older buildings into a community library. If they are ever in the town, both the Minister and the Minister of State are welcome to visit that library because it is a model that could be replicated. The Minister of State mentioned converting buildings into libraries, etc., and that community library in Athy is a model that could be replicated in so many places. My question relates to Newbridge library for which funding of €3 million was recently announced. That will be a county library for the county of Kildare with archive storage, etc., which is very important for any county. I ask again for continued support from the Minister of State's Department for that library in Newbridge, which will be a state-of-the-art library for the whole county of Kildare.

Sentiment score: 0.30

The latest information I have is that it is hoped the project will proceed in quarter 1 of 2026, which would be very welcome. I mentioned in this House before that Newbridge now has a population of almost 26,000 people, so it is very important we have a functioning library for that size of population. The fact the new building will be four times larger than the existing building, which has run its course but has done the people of Newbridge proud over a long period, is very welcome. I look forward to the opening of that library and the continued support of the Government. The library will have the support of every public representative in the county of Kildare, because it is so important not only to the town of Newbridge but also to the county of Kildare. We have a tradition and history there and a great history department within Kildare County Council. It has a lot of archive material that needs to be shown and displayed. The Curragh history museum is also very important to the county and we can share that history as well through the Newbridge county library. I thank the Minister of State for his reply and I look forward to that project for the people of Newbridge and of County Kildare.

Sentiment score: 0.47