Power and safety concerns delay My Open Library in Bettystown

Power outages, lift safety and concerns about evacuating vulnerable users from the building are among the issues holding up the introduction of My Open Library at the East Meath Civic Centre.

Councillors have expressed further frustration over the continued delay in extending access to the library in Bettystown, after being told that operational and safety concerns, in addition to outstanding building defects, must be addressed before the service can be introduced.

The issue was raised at the latest Laytown-Bettystown Municipal District meeting, where Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan again sought an update on a list of defects and outstanding works she had requested at the previous meeting.

A council official explained that the delay was not solely related to the building's defects liability period, but also involved concerns about how the facility would operate safely when no staff were present.

One of the issues relates to the library being located on the second floor and the possibility of a power failure affecting the lift. The official warned that a person with mobility difficulties could be left upstairs without a safe means of getting out of the building.

The council was also dealing with recurring power outages in the Bettystown area, with ESB Networks working on improvements to the reliability of the electricity supply.

The official said those works were ongoing and expected to be completed in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the council was examining the possibility of providing a temporary back-up power supply, potentially involving battery storage, to ensure the library could continue operating during an outage.

Additional caretaker support was also being explored, but the official said the risks to the public were currently considered too significant to introduce the unstaffed My Open Library service.

Sinn Fein Cllr Maria White said it was disappointing that more than a year after councillors first raised questions about My Open Library, they were only now being given details of the safety concerns affecting its introduction.

"I would have expected that, in terms of fire safety, it would have been a very important feature of the design of the library," she said.

Describing the latest information as "a bit of a shock", she questioned why these matters had not been addressed during the design and development of the building.

Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan also questioned why electricity supply and back-up arrangements had not been adequately addressed from the outset.

"During the design phase, the building was designed as an Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) building with its own power supply and a back-up generator," the councillor said.

"The whole point of an NZEB building is that it has its own power supply, and it was in the design case that was identified."

Tolan also questioned the changing explanations given for the delay, pointing out that members had previously been told the defects liability period was holding up the introduction of the service.

"What are the other defects? When are they going to resolve, and when are we out of the defect period?" she asked.

The council official acknowledged that there were two separate issues: outstanding defects being dealt with by the contractor and operational matters affecting the safe introduction of My Open Library.

He said some defects remained, including work required on the automatic door control panel, but these were not in themselves preventing the service from operating.

He added that the building's automatic entrance doors could also be affected by particularly high wind loading, while testing by the library team had brought other operational issues to light.

The official said responsibility for ongoing maintenance had been taken on by the council's facilities team, but further work was required to address the operational difficulties.

Independent Cllr Carol Lennon highlighted the difficulties that could arise if a person with a disability was using the upstairs library during a power failure.

"If a disabled person is on the second floor and the power has gone, a caretaker is not going to be able to manually handle a disabled person down the stairs," she said, adding that several people could be required to assist with an evacuation.

Lennon also questioned whether sufficient staffing arrangements had been put in place to support the introduction of the service.

Cllr Tolan expressed concern that the issues were only now being explained in detail saying that elected members should receive accurate answers to the questions they submit.

The official offered to arrange for the facilities team to meet councillors directly to provide further information.

The latest discussion follows a previous meeting at which Cllr Tolan and other members sought a detailed list of outstanding defects and a schedule for their resolution.

The East Meath Civic Centre and Library opened in February 2025, but councillors have repeatedly highlighted the need for longer access, particularly for secondary school and college students seeking study space after school and working hours.

My Open Library is intended to allow registered members to access participating libraries outside normal staffed hours through a secure self-service system.