Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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2053.To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the total contribution made by her Department to the construction of the new library in Finglas village.[35441/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The provision of library services, including the provision of library buildings, is primarily a matter for local authorities in their capacity as library authorities under the Local Government Act 2001. Accordingly, the delivery of the new public library for Finglas village, which opened in December 2023, was primarily a matter for Dublin City Council.

My Department previously supported library services in Finglas by providing funding of €27,500 annually to Dublin City Council as a contribution towards the cost of leasing the premises where the previous Finglas Library was located, on the first floor of the Finglas Village Centre.

One of the key strategic actions of the new Public Library Strategy, ‘The Library is the Place’, which was published in July 2023, is the development of a new Libraries Capital Programme. My Department announced a new Libraries Capital Programme on 24 April 2024 which will invest over €25million to support 11 state-of-the-art infrastructure projects and 12 next generation mobile library vehicles.

Dublin City Council did not apply for funding for the new library in Finglas village as works had already commenced on the project prior to the Call for Proposals being issued by my Department.