Vol. 489 No. 6
522 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the long delay in providing a library in the Cabra and Navan Road area of Dublin 7; if he has received an application for funding from Dublin Corporation for this project; if so, if he will give approval for the project to go ahead in 1998 or in 1999 at the latest; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9014/98]
Dublin Corporation's proposal to provide a library for the Navan Road/Cabra area was originally submitted to my Department in 1991 and received approval-in-principle in November 1992. The proposal was, however, altered on a number of occasions since then by the corporation. The current proposal was submitted in April 1997.
The Navan Road/Cabra library project, costed at £3 million, has been linked to the refurbishment of the Gilbert Library, Pearse Street, costed at £2.75 million and the corporation want both projects to proceed in tandem.
These proposals must be considered in the context of a captial allocation for libraries, in 1998, of £2.76 million much of which is already committed to projects at construction or fully approved and on which work will commence later in the year. In addition, my Department has some £34 million worth of projects on hands seeking funding. Notwithstanding this, my Department is actively exploring with Dublin Corporation ways in which the project might be advanced as quickly as possible.
