Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for being here. My question concerns the development of the Riverbank Arts Centre and the new Kildare branch library. In the late 1990s, I was involved with a group of like-minded people who lobbied for an arts centre in Newbridge. Eventually, the Riverbank Arts Centre opened its doors in 2001 as County Kildare's arts centre. The centre has given great service and I give credit to Caroline Williams and her team for the multidisciplinary approach they have taken, bringing theatre with international, national and local elements, and for what they do for young people. The centre also has an art gallery. However, the building has gone beyond its original purpose. Riverbank Arts centre is County Kildare's arts centre. The population of the county has reached 270,000. In the latest census, population growth in County Kildare was recorded as almost 14%, which is almost twice the rate of other counties. The theatre was never comfortable. I am short and I find it difficult to fit into the narrow seats so I can imagine taller and larger people find the seating very uncomfortable. In fact, they have ceased to go there and instead go to other theatre spaces. There was great jubilation when, in 2017, Riverbank Arts Centre was awarded what was at the time a substantial amount of money from the Department of arts. Along with Wexford, it was awarded €1 million by the Department. The venues were the only two in the country to receive that funding. They were to become flagship projects for the Department, and rightly so. We all looked forward to that. Has anything happened since? Absolutely not. Eight or nine years later, there is an excellent board, chaired by Paul Davis, comprising volunteers who are putting their time and energy into the project. They have gone through Part 8 and have tendered for and have a terrific design, but nothing has happened.

Riverbank Arts Centre is where the old vocational school was in Newbridge and beside it is the county library and the Newbridge branch library. The county library was built in the 1930s and there is a preservation order on it. There are many health and safety concerns and refurbishment work will start there. The Newbridge branch library was built in the 1970s as an extension. It is not a building of any importance, but there is now an agreement, through national funding and local property tax funding, that the library will be moved across the bridge for a year or 18 months while a three-storey library, which will suit all ages, is developed. That is very welcome, but it does not make sense for there to be three elements in the one space.

Out of the three spaces, two would have work carried out on them in early 2026. It makes no sense that work on the Riverbank Arts Centre would not go ahead at the same time. As night follows day, two buildings would be completed and funding would come through for Riverbank and we would have to start all over again. I appeal for the funding to be provided to complete the work in Riverbank and make it fully accessible, something we should ask for in all public buildings. I ask that the seating be made more comfortable. It would be a landmark building and space for the entrance to Newbridge.