From Department of Rural and Community Development
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Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, has today (Friday, July 23rd) announced funding of €4.5 million under the Libraries Capital Programme.
The significant investment includes an additional €2.245m for the new Mayfair Library in Kilkenny and €1.8m in additional funding for the Monaghan PEACE Campus.
The Mayfair Building in Kilkenny is an iconic landmark located at the entrance to the Abbey Quarter.
Once complete, it will be a state of the art facility for the city and its visitors.
Some €455,000 is to be invested in a number of other projects in counties such as Monaghan, Meath, Westmeath, Cork, Roscommon and Sligo.
This smaller investment includes mobile library vehicles, designed to assist local authorities to continue the valuable outreach service to their communities.
Announcing the funding at the site of the new Mayfair Library, Minister Humphreys said:
“One of the key actions of our public library strategy ‘Our Public Libraries - Inspiring, Connecting and Empowering Communities’, is to develop library buildings that are fit for purpose and reflect the quality of services on offer. I am delighted to be in a position to announce this investment in the public library service. My Department’s Libraries Capital Programme is investing some €4m in these builds but without considerable investment and commitment from both Kilkenny and Monaghan County Councils these exciting projects would not have been able to commence”.
The Monaghan PEACE Campus will provide community space, a youth facility, a new town library and a cultural heritage area. This project will be the catalyst to allow all communities to come together to engage in a safe setting.
Minister Humphreys said:
“I am also delighted to be announcing today additional funding of €1.8m for the PEACE Campus project in my home county of Monaghan. This will bring my Department’s investment in this project to €2.8m. This is the type of project that is envisioned by Our Rural Future’- one that will ensure that thriving rural Ireland remains integral to our national economic, social, cultural and environmental wellbeing and development.”
Announcing the funding for library vehicles Minister Humphreys thanked the local authorities and the library staff for their ongoing commitment and support to the public library service during the past 16 months.
“The local authorities have supported the library service during what has been an incredibly challenging year and the delivery of library items to the housebound and vulnerable has been a wonderful service which I know is highly valued by the customers who received books, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs along with a welcome friendly chat with the driver.”
Details of the funding per county is set out in Appendix 1.
| Local Authority | Project | Amount |
| Kilkenny County Council | Kilkenny City Library | €2,245,000 |
| Monaghan County Council | Monaghan PEACE Campus Library | €1,800,000 |
| Monaghan County Council | Small delivery van | €20,000 |
| Cork County Council | Bandon Library fit-out and My Open Library installation | €126,081 |
| Cork County Council | Mallow My Open Library | €37,275 |
| Cork County Council | Fermoy My Open Library | €21,000 |
| Cork City Council | Delivery van | €21,000 |
| Meath County Council | Electric delivery van | €36,832 |
| Offaly County Council | Banagher & Tullamore My Open Library upgrade | s €60,558 |
| Roscommon County Council | Ballaghaderreen My Open Library | €95,250 |
| Sligo County Council | Mobile Library fit-out | €18,700 |
| Westmeath County Council | Athlone My Open Library | €22,500 |
| Westmeath County Council | Castlepollard My Open Library | €9,492 |
Contact details for all public libraries are available on https://www.librariesireland.ie/ or local authority websites.
The Libraries Capital Programme will invest some €29 million in 17 projects, and the My Open Library service between 2016 and 2022. The Programme has seven completed library projects with five projects at construction stage.
The public library strategy ‘Our Public Libraries 2022 – Inspiring, Connecting and Empowering Communities’ was launched in 2018. The My Open Library initiative is the flagship initiative under the strategy which includes a commitment to make the service available in a total of 200 branches by 2028. The My Open Library initiative provides automated self-service access to all the library facilities for members from 8am-10pm, 365 days a year that is additional to normal staffed hours. The service will be operational in 22 libraries when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
The Mayfair Building is an iconic landmark located at the entrance to the Abbey Quarter. It holds huge importance for the people of Kilkenny in terms of its social heritage. The building was originally constructed as a ballroom and first opened its doors on St Stephen’s night in 1943. It was one of the main ballrooms in Kilkenny during the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s up to when it closed in 1973. The building was acquired by Smithwicks in 1973 and continued to be used by the Brewery until its closure in 2013.
The Mayfair Building will be converted into a modern public Library for Kilkenny. Once completed, the service provided will include ‘My Open Library’, which will offer extended opening hours, providing additional library access to members from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week, 365 days per year.
The development of the Mayfair Library will contribute to high quality public realm and sets a positive example of the provision of a building of quality and permanence attractive to a demographically and culturally diverse community.
The current City library was bequeathed to the people of Kilkenny by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and was established in 1910. Ever mindful of the importance of this building architecturally and that it holds a special place in the hearts of Kilkenny people, the Carnegie library will be retained in library use with the relocation of the local studies section providing greater public access and visibility to the wealth of resources that this section has to offer.
The Monaghan Peace Campus, based in Monaghan Town has been offered €9.5m under the PEACE IV Programme, to create a new shared community space comprising of a four-storey community building situated beside the Garda Station on Plantation Road.
Monaghan County Council will be the lead partner for this project with the facility including: a youth space; cultural heritage centre; library and peace archive; shared community space; welcome zone; and external events space.
Match-funding for the project has been provided by the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland.
Libraries Reopening Following COVID-19 Restrictions
Library membership is completely free of charge for everyone in every public library in the country. If you are not yet a library member, you can join now by following the instructions below:
If you are having trouble joining online, you can contact your library by phone
or email. You can also email info@librariesireland.ie for assistance.
If you are already a library member, you can access all of the online services shown in this document by following the instructions provided for each one. These can be accessed at this address: https://www.librariesireland.ie/elibrary