Councillors call for updated library by-laws after city library was forced to shut 

A group of councillors have written to the Lord Mayor of Cork calling for updated library by-laws after the City Library was forced to close its doors during a far-right demonstration in the city on Saturday.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran and his party colleagues, councillors Colette Finn and Dan Boyle, as well as Labour Party councillor John Maher, have called for draft library by-laws to be placed before the council for adoption at its next meeting.

They also called for the law officer to prepare amendments to the draft library by-laws to the effect that it shall be an offence to make a recording of any kind in a library or at the entrance to a library or on its grounds, without permission from a member of staff or after being requested to stop recording by a member of staff.

Speaking to The Echo, Mr Moran said: “It’s been pointed out by a number of people that there are already general laws that are intended to protect staff and library users from this kind of intimidation, however, the kind of intimidation being put on library staff is in a kind of grey area where people can claim to be merely ‘concerned citizens’ and recording for ‘their own protection’.

“An advantage of a clear local by-law prohibiting recording would be that it would be clear that recording in the faces of library staff as they are going about their work, or walking around the library making recordings and passing commentary to library users, is not acceptable.

“There’s been criticism too of a hands-off approach from the gardaí and by-laws would mean that Cork City Council would be able to pursue offenders independently of the gardaí.”

Lord Mayor of Cork Kieran McCarthy met with senior management on related matters yesterday and said he has booked in to meet with senior gardaí to call for a stop to “such horrific harassment and taking over of public buildings”.

In a statement to The Echo yesterday, Cork City Council said the health, safety, and wellbeing of library staff is of the highest importance to senior management:

“Cork City Council employs a comprehensive health and safety management system which is reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis to reflect an evolving operating environment. 

“Cork City Council continues to engage with An Garda Siochána and other stakeholders, as necessary, across a number of functions.”