THE Dublin government has ear-marked €10 million towards beginning work to safeguard Ireland’s most historic documents from the threat of fire and damp.
The Republic’s Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys announced on Wednesday that a major capital investment plan would be developed for the National Library of Ireland’s premises on Kildare Street in Dublin, adjacent to Leinster House.
She made the announcement in the wake of reports that the board of NLI had written to the minister warning that all the library’s collections were deteriorating because they were being stored in inadequate conditions.
Earlier this month, RTÉ revealed the board was seeking an extra €500,000 annually to carry out its work collecting and preserving the documented and intellectual record of life in Ireland.
Ms Humphreys said the money would be delivered to the NLI through a phased programme of works in partnership with the Office of Public Works (OPW), and funded under her department’s capital programme as part of the government's recently announced ‘Building on Recovery’ capital investment plan.
Redevelopment work will include the refurbishment of the 1890s building to meet modern standards for universal access, fire prevention, health and safety, circulation, security, mechanical and electrical services, and environmental sustainability.
The conditions in which heritage collections are kept will also be upgraded.
“The National Library currently holds a significant amount of its collection in an historic Victorian era building, which is badly in need of upgrading and modernisation. So I am delighted that, thanks to the economic recovery, we are now in a position to invest in this vital cultural institution and address decades of under-investment in the National Library,” said the minister, adding that the money would “help transform the library into a world class facility for the storage and display of some of our most important historical documents”.
NLI director Dr Sandra Collins said that in recent years the facility had been “very resilient in the face of limited resources and funding reductions”.
She added that Wednesday’s news would enable the facility to develop its plans to become an exemplary 21st century modern library for our historic and unparalleled collections, and to be a living space for collaboration, research and culture – for scholars, the public and visitors from across the world and will affirm the library’s position at the heart of Ireland’s culture, learning and society now and for many years to come”.
The library’s collections include Gaelic manuscripts dating from the 14th century as well as the personal papers of Irish politicians such as Daniel O'Connell and documents relating to writers like James Joyce, Seamus Heaney and William Butler Yeats.
Minister @HHumphreysFG at the NLI this morning for significant capital development funding announcement pic.twitter.com/h3421GMHal
— Nat Library Ireland (@NLIreland) November 18, 2015
