Civic honours for committee behind restoration of 113-year-old Limerick library

THE Carnegie Library Community and Heritage Centre in Ballysteen, which was restored by a local committee, is a fabulous facility at the heart of the community and will  be a great addition to the community, local councillors have said in tribute. 

The Library, as it is known locally, was the chosen venue for this month’s meeting of councillors from the Adare Rathkeale Municipal District where the voluntary committee which led the restoration was honoured with a Civic Reception.

This, said District cathaoirleach, Cllr Kevin Sheahan, is the highest honour the council can bestow on any person or committee. 

The restoration, which was carried out by a local, voluntary committee headed up by Siobhan Culhane Costello, cost some €270,000 and featured on RTÉ’s Nationwide last year. 

“It required commitment and above all it required courage,” cathaoirleach of the Municipal District, Cllr Kevin Sheahan said of the project and he described the transformation as fabulous. 

Huge effort in rural Limerick community brings new life to 113-year-old Carnegie Library

“It has turned out to be a fantastic facility,” said Cllr Stephen Keary while Cllr Adam Teskey paid tribute to the committee’s dedication and commitment. “I have no doubt it is an addition to the community,” Cllr Bridie Collins said while Cllr John O’Donoghue extolled the committee’s “trojan work”.

The committee was presented with a scroll of honour.  

The journey to the finished restoration  began about six years ago when Siobhán Costello set up the Ballysteen Tidy Village group. At that time, the Library, built by the Carnegie Trust in 1908, sat abandoned and an eyesore in the centre of the tiny village. 

The last event in the Library, had taken place in 2004,  but it was run-down and in very poor condition long before that. Despite that, the library occupied a special place in people’s hearts and a new committee was formed to restore it. 

A €100,000 grant under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme was secured and the building itself was brought back into public ownership thanks mainly to the generosity of a philanthropic organisation the Tomar Trust. 

Other help followed, from West Limerick Resources, from Limerick City and County Council  and from the JP McManus Foundation and there was considerable local fund-raising.

Local voluntary labour also played a part in completing the project and the building was officially re-opened  for community use last November.