Library Projects

Wednesday, 20 September 2023

Questions (1097)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

1097. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide a schedule of applications received by municipal districts in Wicklow County Council’s local authorities under the 2023 allocation; if she will provide a breakdown, by the library branch that was allocated funding and amount, in the local authority under the libraries capital programme in 2023; if she will provide a schedule of the proposals received for a small-scale capital works programme in public libraries to date in 2023 under the new libraries capital programme by each municipal district in County Wicklow and/or by Wicklow County Council, by amount; and to provide an outline of the proposed project. [40102/23]

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Written answers

Minister for Rural and Community Development

My Department issued a call for proposals on the 3 April 2023 for Local Authorities to submit projects to be funded under a new Libraries Capital Programme which will run from 2023 to 2027. The closing date for receipt of proposals was 16 June 2023 and one application was received from Wicklow County Council. The application requested funding of €3m for Ballywaltrim Library which is in Bray Municipal District.

It is not possible to provide a breakdown of Libraries Capital Programme funding at this time because proposals are currently being assessed by my Department. It is expected that successful projects, including the amount of Libraries Capital Programme funding being awarded, will be announced in Q4 2023.

A Small Scale Capital Works Programme was funded by my Department in 2020. This supported small scale capital projects, generally with a maximum value of €111,000, in each local authority area. The call for proposals that issued to Local Authorities in April 2023 stated that only library capital projects with a total value of more than €500,000 would be considered eligible for funding under the new Libraries Capital Programme. There will be no small scale capital projects funded, arising from this call for proposals.