COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

MOTION NO. 7

MOTION: Councillor G. O'Connell

That the Manager/County Librarian initiate the procurement of the site at the entrance to Woodfarm Acres (not part of the open space) for the proposed Digital Hub at Palmerston and bring forward to this Area Committee in March 2012 costed proposals for the development of this facility.

REPORT:

Staff from the Library Department have examined the site at the entrance to Woodfarm Acres as requested.  It is a fine site measuring almost an acre overall and could quite possibly suit the development of a Digital Hub for Palmerston.  However it is not currently in the ownership of South Dublin County Council.

What is most critical now is the identification of a funding source for this development.  It would be imprudent to spend time and resources developing costed proposals for a project which has yet to secure funding for its implementation.

The current emphasis on shared services and cross local authority cooperation for service delivery will make central government funding for the Digital Hub hard to secure given that Ballyfermot Library has recently been refurbished and is 2.5 km from the Palmerston site. The current rolling capital programme for South Dublin identifies the development of the Digital Hub in Palmerston as a planned project - subject to the identification and availability of funding.  For the project to proceed this funding must now be secured.

The framework for the new Library Development Plan 2012-2016 has been presented to the Arts, Culture, Gaeilge, Education and Libraries SPC. This framework reiterates the difficult climate which currently exists for library infrastructural development. Competition for resources has never been so rigorous and challenging. Identifying where new library buildings should be placed is now more critical than ever as large swathes of South Dublin are without library buildings. This is a concern as the latest international research now shows that new library buildings can have significant impact as community catalysts – particularly when clustered with other services.

The Library Service continues to search for funding streams for the Digital Hub project for the community of Palmerston and will investigate with the elected members any possibility which may present itself.