Minister for Rural Development Heather Humphreys has condemned the targeting of library staff at recent protests in Cork City Library and Tralee Library, but would not be drawn on whether she would support stronger legislation to tackle such protests.
“We have to recognise somebody’s right to protest, but to do so in a way that’s not intimidating to others. To go into a library and abuse staff, I totally condemn it. It’s not what people should be doing,” she said, speaking to reporters at the opening of Portlaoise Library on Monday.
[ Cork city councillors voice support for library staff targeted by protestsOpens in new window ]
In recent weeks, protesters voicing opposition to the provision of what they claim is unsuitable LGBTQ+ literature for young adults have verbally abused and intimated workers at Cork City Library, and have torn up LGBTQ+ books. Last week, in Tralee, anti-LGBTQ+ protesters disrupted a children’s reading event, part of the Kingdom Pride festival.
Ms Humphreys said she had spoken with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee about the recent protests and said that ultimately the responsibility to library staff fell within the remit of the Department of Housing and Local Government, and local authorities.
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Ms Humphreys did not comment on whether she thought An Garda Síochána should reconsider their policing methods in dealing with protests at libraries. “I know that An Garda Síochána monitor these situations very, very closely.”
As well as opening the new library, Ms Humphreys was in Portlaoise to launch a new five-year Government strategy aimed at strengthening the State’s public library network. Part of the strategy includes trebling the number of libraries that allow for out-of-hours access.
Asked whether she had concerns out-of-hours access might be exploited, given the recent targeting of libraries, Ms Humphreys said she was not aware of instances where this was the case.
“The majority of people that come into libraries want to use them for a place of solace, because that’s what they are,” she said.
Lucas Cross, a community development worker with Midlands LGBT+ Project, said people impacted by protests – especially young adults and children – should be afforded greater protection.
Mr Cross said that while he understood the Garda strategy in policing recent incidents, the effects of these events are harmful. “It’s still hurtful,” he said, speaking at the newly opened library.
He said he worried that recent events would deter people from using libraries. “Because they feel like they could be attacked, for whatever reasons.”
Both Mr Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin have condemned the actions of protesters in Cork and Tralee. Mr Martin said that “vigilantism” by certain protesters was unacceptable, with the tearing up of books marking a return to the dark days of censorship.
“I despair and I am dismayed that people would go into a library, upset the peace and tranquillity that people enjoy in a library, and the study and the reading that people do, by violently taking books off a shelf and destroying property,” said Mr Martin, speaking in Mallow last week.
