Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will answer the library one first. We have a library fund all right, and that is separate. However, a lot of funding for libraries is coming through the rural regeneration fund. That is to address dereliction and issues in towns where we can repurpose old buildings and put them into 21st century use. We find that where there is a need for a new library, a lot of funding applications are being made through the rural regeneration and development fund. That applies to towns with populations up to 10,000. I suppose the library fund for towns in excess of that may be the area the Deputy is talking about. We have spent about €57 million to develop and deliver 19 libraries across rural Ireland including in Trim, Virginia and Portlaoise. I am going to one in Kinsale next week. We had one in Castleblayney. These are old buildings that have been taken back and repurposed. There was a gate lodge in Castleblayney. The Trim one was an old church. The one in Portlaoise was an old department store. They are centre-of-town buildings. The library is not just about books as you and I well know. It is all about community. There are loads of things happening in our libraries. They are sort of a centre in the town and bring people in. The local authorities also provide funding so we usually provide matched funding on that. I will come back to the Deputy on the Cork city piece. They can apply under the urban regeneration development fund, which is for the bigger towns. There is an opportunity there for the city to apply for library funding. It is the regeneration piece where a lot of them move in. The smaller grant is then for the likes of refurbishment of the existing libraries because it would not cost as much.