Council unveils plans for new library to serve Drimnagh and Crumlin

The council has released designs for the new library it plans to build to serve Drimnagh and Crumlin.

The 841sqm complex would sit between Crumlin Road and Rafters Lane, next to a planned 38-home social housing block.

The grounds would include the existing, vacant Ardscoil Éanna building, which would be restored, as well as a new two-storey building, the plans say. The two would be linked with a glassed-in bridge at first-floor level, they say.

The two-storey Ardscoil Éanna, which is 100sqm, would be converted from a school building to a library building, with offices, toilets, and “multifunction rooms providing assembly/reading/recital/cafe uses”.

The new library building would be about the same height. It would have reading space, books and an events space on the ground floor, and “a reading and meeting room” and staff rooms on the first floor.

The grounds around the buildings would also include a “library lawn”, a rain garden, outside cafe seating, and bike parking, a map shows.

Council officials are due to present the plans to councillors on the South Central Area Committee on 18 September, “For information purposes only”, the agenda shows.

This is a step in the Part 8 process through which the executive arm of the council gets planning permission for its own projects from the elected members.

Next would be putting the plans out for public consultation. Eventually, councillors will vote on whether to approve the plans or not.

The council’s capital budget for 2024 to 2026 includes €200,000 for the project this year, €8.7 million in 2025, and €2.2 million in 2026.

The Drimnagh Residents Association started asking the council for a permanent library 50 years ago, then chair Peter Burke said in 2018.

The council had bought the old school building and surrounding site that year.

In March of 2023, a council spokesperson said the council planned to lodge a Part 8 planning application for a new library there before the end of the year. “With building to commence in 2024.”

The plans on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting of the South Central Area Committee do not include a timeline.