Four new libraries on Council wish-list

Four new libraries on Council wish-list


Neill O’Neill

MAYO County Council has submitted a list of library project priorities for the next five years to the Department of the Environment, proposing new buildings for Swinford, Crossmolina and Westport, along with a brand new library building for Newport.
The funding is available under the new ‘Capital Funding Programme for Libraries’, as part of the Department of the Environment’s new libraries policy ‘Branching Out – Future Directions’, and could see up to 80 per cent of the cost of four new library buildings in Mayo provided, as well as 50 per cent of the cost of new stock and equipment. County Librarian, Austin Vaughan, previously told The Mayo News, however, that there is a high demand for this funding from all over the country, and there is no guarantee that any application will be successful.
Top of the wish list in Mayo is a new 405-square metre library building in Swinford which the Council would like to begin building this year at a cost of €1.8 million. The proposal would be part of a one-stop-shop in Swinford and would be completed by 2010, with the local authority contribution being 20 per cent of the cost for all four proposed libraries on the list.
Next on the list is a new 500 square foot stand-alone library in Crossmolina. The estimated cost of this is €2 million and, ideally, the Council would like to commence construction in 2009, to be finished in 2011.
Third on the priority lost is a new library in Westport, which the list proposes would be part of a one-stop-shop and would cost €2.7 million. The date for this 900-square metre facility to be finished is 2011, and construction would not begin until 2010.
Newport would also get a library under the proposal, with a 200-square metre building flagged for the town at a cost of €1 million. Though this library is last on the priority list, the desired commencement date is in 2009, to be completed in 2010.
Westport Town Councillor, Keith Martin, who is also Branch Librarian in Westport, has welcomed the news that Mayo County Council intends to provide a new library for Westport within the next four years. Cllr Martin recently highlighted the need for a new library for the town given the limited capacity and space of the current 35-year-old building.
“The proposed new library for Westport would be the same size as Ballina and Castlebar libraries and will provide a state-of-the-art library service for the south west Mayo region, in a building five times the size of the current building,” he said.
According to the Labour councillor, this is good news for Westport.
“Mayo County Council has informed the Department of its library priorities and it is now up to the Department to take the next step, but I am delighted that Mayo County Council is confident and committed to improving on the existing library buildings and to providing a new library for Newport also,” he concluded.