20/03/2018

Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.

MAYOR UNVEILS FREE LIBRARY BOOK BANK AS PART OF LUCAN’S €300K – HAVE YOUR SAY INITITAIVE

Mayor of South Dublin County Council, Cllr. Paul Gogarty, has launched the Free Library Book Banks in Public Places initiative at an unveiling in Rossecourt (Stewart’s Care) Centre, Balgaddy, Lucan. This initiative was a winning project in the South Dublin County Council’s first year of €300k Have Your Say which covered the Lucan electoral area (Lucan, Palmerstown and Adamstown).

Members of the community can borrow a book from the collection and swap it out for different title when finished.

As well as Rossecourt, free library book banks can be found in

• Ballyowen Community Centre, Lucan

• LIFE (Lucan Institute of Further Education)

• Palmerstown Youth and Community Centre

• Adamstown Community Centre (collection to be made available when the centre officially opens)

Also celebrated at the event was the book ‘Spectrum versus The League of Conveniently out-of-Copyright Villains’ which is the debut novel from Jack Connolly, a final year trainee within Ronanstown Community Training and Education Centre who has a diagnosis of Autism and OCD. The book is based around 3 teenagers with autism who are sent to a summer school – Dr Chapeau De Guerre’s Institute for Special Robotics – where not everything is quite as it seems! Jack’s book is available in the collection at Rossecourt

Speaking at the event the Mayor Gogarty said “South Dublin Libraries were charged with delivering on this idea and I know they are delighted to have been involved in this Free Library Book Banks in Public Places initiative, which promotes reading in the community. The collection available at Rossecourt gives an idea of the fantastic selection of new books which South Dublin Libraries purchased for this programme. There is definitely something to suit everyone’s reading taste! Members of the community can borrow a book from the collection and when finished with it, return and take a different title.I’d also like to congratulate Jack on his terrific achievement having his first book published and wish him the very best of luck in the future.”

In 2017 South Dublin County Council launched the very first Participatory Budgeting process in Ireland with the €300k – Have Your Say initiative. The Lucan electoral area, which includes Adamstown and Palmerstown, was the first area in the Country to take part.  Over 160 ideas were generated through a combination of workshops and online submissions. 17 projects were voted on and 8 ideas were selected to be acted upon. One of these ideas was the Free Library Book Banks in Public Places.

Ends

• Photograph 1 – Jack Connolly with Mayor Paul Gogarty

• Photograph 2 – Group Photograph: (l-r): Pat Quinn, Director of Clinical Services Stewarts Care; Ciara Ballantyne Senior Manager Rossecourt Centre; Caroline Higgins South Dublin Libraries; Jack Connolly; Mayor Paul Gogarty; Frank Nevin, Director of Services South Dublin County Council; Bernadette Fennell, County Librarian South Dublin Libraries.

• Photograph 3 - Mayor Paul Gogarty with Jack Connolly with his parents Maresa and Patrick

• Photograph 4 – Selection of books in the Have Your say collection.

For more information on €300k Have Your Say and updates the Lucan Electoral Area activities see http://www.southdublin.ie/HaveYourSay/ or e-mail communications@sdublincoco.ie

For the editor:

Rossecourt Resource Centre is an integrated centre for adults with a mild to moderate/severe intellectual disability and teenagers/young adults who require a second chance education programme. The centre is operated by Stewarts Care in Palmerstown.

http://www.stewartscare.ie/socialenterprises/rossecourtcentre/default.aspx

South Dublin County is one of four local authority areas in the Dublin region.

South Dublin County Council provides and funds a broad range of services including housing, roads, walking and cycling routes, parks and playgrounds, libraries, sports facilities, litter control, arts centres, enterprise units, fire services, community infrastructure and financial supports. It also serves as a platform for local democracy with 40 councillors spread across six electoral areas.

Bounded by the River Liffey to the North and the Dublin Mountains to the South, the County lies 16 kilometres south west of Dublin city centre and has an administrative footprint of 223sq. kilometres. The County has nine main villages Clondalkin, Lucan, Palmerstown, Rathfarnham, Tallaght, Templeogue, Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle and is bounded by adjoining counties of Wicklow, Kildare, Dublin City, Fingal and Dun Laoghaire.

Images

• 
  Photo 1 - Jack Connolly with Mayor Paul Gogarty
• 
  Photo 2: Group photo - see press release for names and titles
• 
  Photo 3: Mayor Paul Gogarty with Jack Connolly and his parents Maresa and Patrick
• 
  Photo 4: A selection of books in the Free Library Book Bank