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DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has put out a tender for a new City Library at Parnell Square.
The works include the redevelopment of one of the Georgian houses at Number 27 Parnell Square West, and a new public plaza created in front of the city library buildings and the Hugh Lane Gallery.
The Dublin City Library will form a large part of the Parnell Cultural Quarter, which has been in development since 2013.
Green Party councillor for Dublin’s North Inner City, Janet Horner, told The Journal that it’s a “massive flagship project for the city”.
“It’s been frustrating to see something that I think will really transform Dublin 1 stall for such a long time,” said Horner, “but it’s great that we are progressing on it.”
She said her understanding is that work will start on the site in 2026, and that 2025 “will be about awarding the tender and moving ahead with the designs”.
Dublin City Council notes on the City Library Project website that procurement of the contractor will take around six months.
“The local community, we really want to see the project progress and to deliver something for the areas,” said Horner.
The project has been in the works for over a decade and Hornet said “inevitably, a lot of these things end up taking a little bit longer than you hope they’re going to”.
However, Horner said councillors will “push for as tight a time frame as we can manage” and the project is estimated for completion in 2027.
Meanwhile, the tender document notes that the construction value is in the region of €100 million.
Dublin City Council (DCC) said the project received preliminary approval under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund in March 2021.
The funding amount was close to €57 million for the City Library works and just over €14 million for public realm works.
DCC has spent around €2.5 million so far on security, site surveys, investigation works, and building maintenance.
Horner meanwhile told The Journal that she understands “there might be some borrowing to try and cover the rest of it”.
In relation to all borrowings of Dublin City Council, a report is put to the City Council seeking approval.
Once granted, approval is then sought from the parent Government department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
Elsewhere, Horner expressed concern that “across the board in Dublin, we struggle to deliver on these big-ticket items”.
“If you look at the Dublin 1 area, you have a lot of outstanding projects between O’Connell Street, the Hammersmith, and the Moore Street development,” said Horner.
“The Smithfield fruit and veg market is another good example of these major infrastructure projects that have the potential to revive the city considerably, and people are very excited when they see the plans.
“But I think people also feel very cynical, because we’re very used to seeing plans, but not as used to seeing delivery at this point.”
Horner said it is important that “when plans and projects are brought forward, there is a realistic implementation schedule put in place as well”.
“It’s not just this City Library project, I think there is frustration in general about how long it takes to deliver these kinds of things.
“But in general, it’s great to see something happening there and we’ll be pushing as best we can.”
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If it took ten years to get to this point, presumably it will be another 30 before it’s completed and four times over budget as per usual?
A “Cultural Quarter” now? And so close to the “Clerys Quarter”, not far from the “Capel Quarter”… How many “quarters” do they want to create in Dublin? Will it really attract tourists or will it be another vanity naming project that’ll just end up costing money? There are no “quarters” in Dublin, it’s not Belfast.
That said, I’m all for (re)development and for a nice city library. But not in a “quarter” please
@Jerry LeFrog: Feck the tourists. It’s not for them.
@Jerry LeFrog: The lads here getting all riled up over a word. You alright, Jerry?
@Jerry LeFrog: it’s just means living area. From the French Quartier. Some argue it’s from the Latin literally meaning one quarter, as Roman cities were divided in 4 quadrants. But LeFrog, You knew that anyway.
Oh my goodness all these Quarters! Too many and they’re the quarter of what! Just say area, they already exist. There’s now the historic quarter’ with the redevelopment signs on Werburgh Street. We don’t need to pretend to be European, we ARE European but we have our own identity already. And that’s what the tourists come for. Not a poor crappy carbon copy of an European city. Rant about quarters is over. Many thanks :)
@S banter: Quarters within cities were used going back hundreds of years, why the offence with the name?
@Brian D’Arcy: no ‘offence’, but they want to rename areas of Dublin as “quarters”, a name that’s never been in this city afaik
Level the place and start again
@Chutes Idiot: Perhaps he/you means Gstaad, where he/you is currently pretending to be.
@Chutes Idiot: Dublin 1
@Brendan O’Brien: Jealousy gets you nowhere Bob save up your welfare and you can have a weekend in courtown for yourself. Keep reaching for your life goals kid.
@Trump24: “Level the place” coz it’s “only poor people”, amirite?
@Franno: Do poor people not deserve better I think they do guess you are happy for them to live in awful conditions
@Trump24: You do realise that Trump will become the President of the USA, not the Republic of Ireland? Although you didn’t know the year that the US election was happening so probably not.
@Chutes Idiot: Where in Ballydehob?
Why are there market stalls in the middle of the street? No buses? No cars? Parnell Square and not a dipper, pickpocket, thief, drug pusher or a drug addict insight? Can architects not draw reality?
@Alan Cooke: the goal is to pedestrianise Parnell Sq North
@Name: More places for a certain type to push their product. Seen Capel Street lately? Just like the boardwalk now. “A great success”. The more passing traffic the less dealing will happen. Gardai pass in cars not on foot, I’m sure everyone has noticed that.
@Name: I get shivers down my spine even seeing that image… right next to the Hugh Lane Gallery and Chapter One restaurant. Walk 2 minutes either direction and well good luck- personally, I never want to frequent that part of the City again having existed in a well known ‘hostel’ just around the corner for more than I care to remember.
It’s a prison and more gardai on streets and a 3 strike judicial system, not a library
How TF could this cost €100m???
100 million ! Chk&€t Dublin Dublin
Let’s get this one right, and KEEP THE BOOKS in order.
Has DCC now realised that the rich in Ireland are not philanthropist’s but much prefer the public purse for this type of project and from which they can add further to their wealth.
100m for a library? Can we not rent somewhere already built? If we really need it……
The usual Irish backwards approach to infrastructure takes 30 to 40years before anything is built in this country, pure between bullshit objections and stupid archaic planning laws, why any company or business would bother to build anything in this country rather than Eastern Europe where you can get things done, is beyond me
The project has been in the works for over a decade and Hornet said “inevitably, a lot of these things end up taking a little bit longer than you hope they’re going to”.
So a decade is “a little bit longer than you hoped”?
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