2. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht the funding, both capital and current, allocated to Cork City Council for library services in its administrative area in each of the years from 2019 to 2025 and to date in 2026, by library; the engagements he has had with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding the new Cork city library project to ensure that it is designed and developed in line with his Department’s National Public Library Strategy 2023-2027 - The Library is the Place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23346/26]
Sentiment score: 0.17
My question relates to the development of a new library for Cork. In March 2021, the Taoiseach announced that €50 million would be spent transforming Grand Parade by providing a new public library, plaza and boardwalk. Staff at the library do a fantastic job but the building is not fit for purpose. It does not reflect the services and it is not befitting of the second city. We are five years later and we have no new library. Even more concerning is that there is very little information about this project. We urgently need an update because the people of Cork want a new city library.
Sentiment score: 0.02
We can have the ambition but we need the delivery and it has now been five years since the Taoiseach came to Cork and announced there would be a new city library, and there has been no development. The issue here is that nobody is taking responsibility for the project. The Government says it is the responsibility of the council. The council says it is waiting on the Government. This passing of the buck must stop. I have tried really hard to work with everybody constructively on this. During my time as a councillor, I submitted multiple questions and a motion to the council on it. My party colleague Councillor Niamh O'Connor has done the same. I had multiple meetings with librarians and council staff. We have submitted questions and got identical answers. For over a year now, Cork City Council has been giving us identical answers and no new information. We resorted to submitting freedom of information, FOI, requests to the council. They have all been refused. I have asked questions to the Taoiseach here and not got an answer. I understand a business case has finally been submitted to the Department of housing and local government. Has that been reviewed? Has the Minister of State's Department looked at that business case? We need a working group, the various Departments and the council to come together to work on this project and deliver the world-class library the people of Cork were promised over five years ago by the Government.
Sentiment score: 0.01
The Minister of State's Department is responsible for libraries. My point here is that his Department and the Department of public expenditure and reform, the Department of housing and local government, and the city council need to work together to deliver this project, which was promised over five years ago. The real frustration here is the lack of information and the lack of public consultation on this key project. A campaign group has been set up to push for action on this project. It has set out its vision for how public authorities could engage in a public consultation. It has also set out a clear vision of what the library should look like, namely, a world-class library, a cathedral of learning in the heart of the city, and it has shared that with the Department. The lack of progress on this library is really frustrating. We have just seen delay after delay. It is not the only capital project that has been delayed in Cork city. It has now been ten years since the sod was turned on the event centre; and there is still no event centre. It has been five years since the library was announced, and there is no library. No funding has been allocated for the Luas, BusConnects is still delayed, and there is no safe injection facility and no homeless hub. The list goes on. The Government promises capital investment and projects for Cork city and it fails to deliver them time and again. We really need to see progress on a new city library in the heart of Cork city.
Sentiment score: -0.05
Five years.
Sentiment score: 0.00
No one is.
Sentiment score: -0.30
I call the Government to account for its promises.
Sentiment score: 0.38