Tender documents are almost ready for the long-awaited new library in Portlaoise.
Laois County Council CEO John Mulholland confirmed the news at the monthly meeting of the council earlier this week.
The library will be developed on the former site of Shaws, on Lower Main Street in the town.
“The new library is high priority and every quarter that it is pushed out, the costs will get more expensive. We are now on the point of getting tender documents out for the new library.
He gave an undertaken to come back to the council with fixed costs for the project.
The current library is “not fit for purpose,” library employee, Cllr Mary Sweeney told the meeting.
Safety
“There are health and safety issues and lack of space is an issue,” she said.
“It is just not able to accommodate what we are currently doing,” she said of the current building at Lyster Square.
The August meeting of the council in 2017 heard a further €1.5 million in government funding was being sought for the new Portlaoise library, due to soaring costs for the project
The cost of building the project was estimated at €3 million, that meeting heard, with a futher €1.5 million to be spent on the fit-out of the building.
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