Kilkenny council spent €7m on building for library never used

A building which Kilkenny County Council bought for €7 million was never used by the county library service as initially intended, and remained mostly vacant.

The revelation is contained in a 2017 Local Government Audit Service report on Kilkenny County Council.

The report also criticised the county council for awarding contracts for housing maintenance, valued at about €1 million, “without recourse to full compliant tendering processes”.

The auditor’s report notes the council bought the building at 75/76 John Street, Kilkenny, in 2007, for €7 million “ for the purpose of relocating the county library”.

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But it also noted that “although this is now not going ahead, no formal decision has yet been made in respect of its long-term use”.

The audit service said “it is now overdue” for the council to develop a long-term strategy on how it can “finally obtain a return on the significant investment made”, the auditor said.

In a response contained in the auditor’s report, the council said “the site” at 75/76 John Street was now being considered for “additional office space to consolidate the delivery of council services from County Hall” .

Arts-related events

However, the council added that “development is dependent on funding being available”.

It is understood the building is used occasionally for arts-related events.

In relation to its criticism of council tendering awards, the audit service said the need for compliance had been raised with the council in the past, but the problem persisted.

The auditor said “while some progress has been made in improving compliance levels in recent years, there remain a number of areas where contracts are still being awarded without recourse to full compliant tendering processes”.

During the audit, it was noted that expenditure was incurred in 2017 on housing refurbishment/maintenance contracts “amounting to approximately €1 million without recourse to a compliant tendering process”.

The auditors said: “These are similar to the levels of non-compliance previously reported.”

While the council argued the procurement processes involved a “compliant local authority framework”, the auditor warned the council was required to comply with national and EU procurement regulations and directives.

Ultimately the council told the audit service that contracts for maintenance in 2018 would be procured under these national frameworks.