Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I look forward to visiting the library with Deputy Wall. Just to assure him, the project has received funding of €3 million under the capital programme to support what is a very ambitious and exciting plan for the county library in Newbridge, including archives and a cultural centre. The project will be superb in terms of its size and scale. It will be 2,378 sq. m. It will be four times larger than the existing library in Newbridge and will provide an opportunity to showcase the library service in the county.

As the Deputy knows, it has received stage 2 approval in the Department's four-stage capital management process. I look forward to working with Kildare County Council, the Deputy and other Members of the House in ensuring the libraries capital programme delivers for the people of Kildare. To be fair to Kildare County Council, it has been very progressive and ambitious around the library service and I commend it on the work it is doing. I look forward to working with all Members and Deputy Wall, in particular, on the project for Kildare.

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