A campaign group is to march on Cork City Hall on Monday to call on councillors and council management to commit to delivering a purpose-built library for Leeside.
The rally by members of the Cork Library Action Group comes as councillors prepare to vote on a motion from Social Democrats councillor Niamh O’Connor urging the local authority to replace the existing 2,300 sq m building on the Grand Parade.
The campaign group is calling for the development of a “world class” 7,700 sqm library befitting of “a modern European city”.
The group, which involves library users and former library staff, wants the new building to be situated in “a landmark location” and to be “a cathedral of learning with architecture in keeping with surrounding buildings”.
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“The library is the most used cultural building in Cork and must remain in a location that is widely accessible to all, both day and night, and it should be connected to at least two streets and have a large public facade,” the group said.
The new central library should, it argued, be big enough to hold the existing 500,000-strong catalogue of books, magazines and journals, and provide space for an expanded Rory Gallagher music library, an enlarged Cork local studies section and meeting rooms for workshops and classes.
Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice said the campaign group agreed with Taoiseach Micheál Martin when he said a new library could become one of the most attractive buildings in Cork city.
The Fianna Fáil leader in 2021 announced €46 million from Ireland’s 2040 Urban Regeneration and Development Fund for the project.
When Rice raised the issue with the Taoiseach in the Dáil in November, Martin said the plan for the urban regeneration of Cork city centre, including the provision of a new library, was the responsibility of Cork City Council, but the Government was yet to receive plans.
“Apparently, there were issues with sites, property and all the rest of it,” Martin said. “Very lately the council has put forward ideas although I am not sure they were formally done ... There have been issues around the location of the library but the Government’s commitment is still there.”
He said he understood from recent meetings with the council that “it is pursuing options in this respect which may not gain agreement from everyone”.
The Taoiseach’s comment prompted concern among some campaigners, who fear the council may be seeking to convert the Counting House, situated on the BAM-owned Beamish and Crawford site on South Main Street, into a library.
Informed sources say converting the Counting House would mark a change from what was proposed in 2021 when Martin announced the funding. Their hope is for a 7,700 sq m amenity at the southern end of the Grand Parade on land now used as a car park.
The council said “the City Library Service is an important component of the cultural, literary and recreational infrastructure of Cork city”.
“The commitment to providing a new city library of scale and substance is one that is a priority for Cork City Council.”
