Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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1419. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount spent to date on the upgrading of the east and west wings of the National Library; and the duration of such works. [6375/20]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The €14.7 million National Library of Ireland building redevelopment project “Re-imagining the National Library” is part of Project Ireland 2040.  The first Phase 1 was to provide a modern, secure, state-of-the art book repository in which a substantial part of the Library's priceless book collection is now housed.  I had the honour of unveiling the new facility in June 2019.

The completion of the first phase of the Library’s capital development project was a huge milestone.  It involved moving 350,000 volumes from five floors of storage in the Victorian West Wing.  The book repository gives us all a great sense of relief with the safeguarding of the national published collections.   To date, funding of over €1.6 million has been made available by my Department. 

The next phases include investigative works in the Library’s West Wing and the development of new public spaces and services, as well as providing universal access for all visitors.