Greytones Library

 The old stone-cut cornices of our Carnegie Library have been painted orange, portico and gutters two shades of green; otherwise not much of the exterior has changed. Inside, all is changed, utterly. An architect has transformed the space grant aided with €1.5 million.  Now, among the cadent voices, pages turn and keyboards click, and an elevator swishes between the building’s new floors. The children’s library is enhanced. 

Still free of charge, patrons pick and choose from several thousand titles, disks and journals. They sit engrossed at tables, over newspapers, journals or slip upstairs (or take the elevator) to take time out at computers and merely take in the view of passing trains, gulls, the rise and fall of the sea, or the waves lapping. We owe it to Andrew Carnegie who did what Bill Gates is doing in our time, extending his largesse to the poor and uneducated. Of course, somebody pays, the taxpayer.