Value has to be delivered from the new €7 mill Portlaoise library

Minister Heather Humphreys officially opened the Portlaoise Library on July 18 2023 a decade after the site was purchased and plan launched in 2013.

placeholder image — Minister Heather Humphreys officially opened the Portlaoise Library on July 18 2023 a decade after the site was purchased and plan launched in 2013.

Viewpoint

The new county library in Portlaosie has taken a full decade of planning and construction with the final bill set to top €7 million.

After being beset by multiple delays and escalating costs, it has opened to the public after a grand ribbon cutting by Minister Heather Humphreys.

It is built on the site of the former Shaws department store site on Main St which was bought by Laois County Council in 2013 for €450,000. The estimated cost to build the library was €2.5 million ten years ago.

It must be said that the facility will be an addition to the county and town. The premises on Lyster Square was probably never fit for the purpose it was used for. The people of the county town deserved better while staff were also entitled to work in an up-to-date facility to allow them to deliver a modern library service.

The new building includes a local studies centre, an ICT room, staff offices, an events area and an exhibition space. It has a series of interconnecting rooms both single-height and double-height, lined with bookcases, reading desks, and galleries, offering a combination of calm study areas and animated public spaces. The old Shaws corner pediment was recreated in the new design. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

However, the cost of the project cannot be understated and the management of the escalation in the bill nearly every year in the past decade cannot go unquestioned.

All too often in Ireland public spending projects, from the new children's hospital to the Portlaoise Library, go over budget. The scale of the overspends often runs to multiples of the original bill. It's common that not enough questions are asked before, during and after the projects, by those signing the cheques.

Local people have asked these questions. They are entitled to do so as it is public money - their money.

The jump in cost to the final bill is no small potatoes and can't be forgotten. An audit of the process would provide answers to the public and valuable lessons to the council and others.