asked the Minister for the Environment if he will take a personal initiative with regard to ensuring that a site is acquired and building is expedited for the proposed new library in the Marino-Clontarf area of Dublin.

The acquisition of a site for library purposes is a matter for the relevant local authority. I have had no proposals from Dublin Corporation in relation to a new library in the area in question.

Would the Minister take into account the fact that there appears to be a special difficulty about acquiring a site in the area? That is why I wondered whether he might be interested in taking an initiative. Will he cooperate with the local authority because he would carry weight in the context of getting the library facility more rapidly?

I appreciate that there has been difficulty in getting a site. The Department of Education have not come under any pressure from the VEC to provide further facilities because they already have made arrangements about library facilities in the area. It is the function of the local authority to find a suitable site.

In so far as the Minister's Department are involved at all, for example, in approving an order to purchase or providing the funds for a site, I take it the Minister will be——

There is no proposal before me.

When it comes before the Minister?

I will definitely have it examined.