Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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2. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the funding, both capital and current, allocated to Cork City Council for library services in its administrative area in each of the years from 2019 to 2025 and to date in 2026, by library; the engagements he has had with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding the new Cork city library project to ensure that it is designed and developed in line with his Department’s National Public Library Strategy 2023-2027 - The Library is the Place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23346/26]

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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My question relates to the development of a new library for Cork. In March 2021, the Taoiseach announced that €50 million would be spent transforming Grand Parade by providing a new public library, plaza and boardwalk. Staff at the library do a fantastic job but the building is not fit for purpose. It does not reflect the services and it is not befitting of the second city. We are five years later and we have no new library. Even more concerning is that there is very little information about this project. We urgently need an update because the people of Cork want a new city library.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Rice for raising the matter. I concur with him that we have an extraordinary dedicated library staff in Cork city right across all sections of our library service. As the Deputy will be well aware, the current libraries capital programme 2023-2027 is investing €22.6 million in 11 state-of-the-art library infrastructure projects around the country and a further €2.6 million in 12 next-generation mobile library vehicles across Ireland. Funding of €8.3 million has been provided by our Department to support Cork City Council's public library services since 2019, through the libraries capital programme and the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund. Details of this expenditure will be provided separately to Deputy Rice as requested.

As the Deputy will be aware, the provision of library services is primarily a matter for local authorities - in this case, Cork City Council - in their capacity as library authorities under the Local Government Act 2001.

The Cork city library is one element of the overall Grand Parade quarter project, which is being funded through the urban regeneration and development fund, administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. My officials are in regular contact with colleagues in the URDF unit in that Department on the matter. In line with a commitment in the national public library strategy, the libraries development unit in our Department issued updated public library standards and benchmarks to all library authorities, including Cork City Council, earlier this year.

We all share the ambition to have a state-of-the-art library in Cork City Council. I got involved in politics campaigning for my own local library in Bishopstown, where we had none. Thankfully, we have a magnificent library now adjacent to Wilton Shopping Centre. Like Deputy Rice, we in this Department, with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, share the ambition to have a modern state-of-the-art library for Cork city. That is a project we will all support.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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We can have the ambition but we need the delivery and it has now been five years since the Taoiseach came to Cork and announced there would be a new city library, and there has been no development. The issue here is that nobody is taking responsibility for the project. The Government says it is the responsibility of the council. The council says it is waiting on the Government. This passing of the buck must stop. I have tried really hard to work with everybody constructively on this. During my time as a councillor, I submitted multiple questions and a motion to the council on it. My party colleague Councillor Niamh O'Connor has done the same. I had multiple meetings with librarians and council staff. We have submitted questions and got identical answers. For over a year now, Cork City Council has been giving us identical answers and no new information. We resorted to submitting freedom of information, FOI, requests to the council. They have all been refused. I have asked questions to the Taoiseach here and not got an answer. I understand a business case has finally been submitted to the Department of housing and local government. Has that been reviewed? Has the Minister of State's Department looked at that business case? We need a working group, the various Departments and the council to come together to work on this project and deliver the world-class library the people of Cork were promised over five years ago by the Government.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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To clarify for the Deputy so that he knows, it is not our Department that is responsible; it is the Department of housing. To help him again, Cork City Council is the responsible local authority. I think Deputy Rice was at the briefing we had as Members of the Oireachtas with the chief executive of the city council before Christmas, where we believe the city council identified a site. Work is ongoing. Our Department is committed in terms of our responsibility. The Department of housing is equally committed, as Deputy Rice will know. It should be put on record that this Government has been supportive and has funded Cork City Council and the regeneration of Cork city. I hope the Deputy understands that the element we speak about today, the library, on which we agree, is one element of the Grand Parade project and has been allocated funding under the urban regeneration and development fund. That funding has been provided. Equally, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and the previous Minister, Heather Humphreys, provided moneys under the URDF to Cork County Council, and we committed to and have built two libraries in Macroom and Youghal. I agree that our library staff are fantastic in Cork city. Our library needs to be that flagship for the part of the city we are regenerating. I look forward to working with the Deputy and with Cork City Council to develop that project.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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The Minister of State's Department is responsible for libraries. My point here is that his Department and the Department of public expenditure and reform, the Department of housing and local government, and the city council need to work together to deliver this project, which was promised over five years ago. The real frustration here is the lack of information and the lack of public consultation on this key project. A campaign group has been set up to push for action on this project. It has set out its vision for how public authorities could engage in a public consultation. It has also set out a clear vision of what the library should look like, namely, a world-class library, a cathedral of learning in the heart of the city, and it has shared that with the Department. The lack of progress on this library is really frustrating. We have just seen delay after delay. It is not the only capital project that has been delayed in Cork city. It has now been ten years since the sod was turned on the event centre; and there is still no event centre. It has been five years since the library was announced, and there is no library. No funding has been allocated for the Luas, BusConnects is still delayed, and there is no safe injection facility and no homeless hub. The list goes on. The Government promises capital investment and projects for Cork city and it fails to deliver them time and again. We really need to see progress on a new city library in the heart of Cork city.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Rice comes in here and speaks about a cathedral of learning and it is wonderful rhetoric. I share his view. I am equally ambitious for Cork. I have been involved in public life for 21 years as a member of Cork City Council and as a Member of the Oireachtas and the library will be transformative for our city. The chief executive outlined at his briefing with us that the project in the library is one element of the overall Grand Parade project. The funding has been allocated and is ring-fenced.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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Five years.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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The funding is ring-fenced. It is very easy for the Deputy to come in here. I have met Colette Kelleher, the chair of the action group, and I am as committed as the Deputy is. Again, it is not our Department that is responsible.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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No one is.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is certainly not responsible, and it is very easy to speak to the papers and come in here and shout and roar every day but he delivers nothing but rhetoric. That is all he delivers.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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I call the Government to account for its promises.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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Our Government will deliver a library, working with Cork City Council, which is the lead agency. The Deputy knows that himself. He was a member of Cork City Council.

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. We are out of time.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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We agree on the final point. We need to have a city library that is fit for purpose and our staff are the best in the country.