Residents of Wicklow Town have welcomed the opening of a new €6 million library.

Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien TD visited the town on Monday 30 August to mark the official opening.

The new development has been built on the site of a former Ulster Bank on Main Street and is spread over six floors. It includes four floors of modern library facilities, including a children's library and a general reading area, adult borrowing area, study area and public access to technology and teenage library in addition to a dedicated community room, which local groups can use for meetings and other activities. The top floor will act as an exhibition space and a location for civic events with very attractive views over the town and harbour. In addition to the four standard library floors, there are two further floors at basement and lower basement level, dedicated to Wicklow's local history and archives.

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On entering the library from Salt House Lane, visitors will be welcomed by Wicklow County Council Local Studies which will be a welcome addition for researchers of their local area and heritage. It also contains an extensive collection of local newspapers on microfilm.

A Changing Space facility in the new library also gives people with disabilities and their carers an area to care for personal hygiene, in safety and comfort.

The first patrons and users were welcomed to Wicklow Town's new library from Tuesday 31 August.