Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator again. Since I came into office, there has been a new emphasis on libraries. The My Open Library service is working very well. In the past two years, I have put any savings achieved in the Department into facilities and equipment for libraries. I have a great love of libraries. I hope that Cork City Council can make an application and we will try to process it. More funding is becoming available over time and the urban regeneration scheme and rural regeneration scheme are in place. We are allowing applications, especially for the rural scheme. We provided some funding for Kinsale under the rural regeneration scheme to open a fantastic new library in the town. I compliment Cork City Council on winning many awards over the years. It won an award for having the best local authority library service in 2014, 2015 and 2018. If there is one thing that local authorities do well, it is libraries. To be fair to them, the local authorities provide libraries with significant funding, while the Department provides funding for capital and equipment. The local authorities are good for the libraries and I compliment them on that.