President Michael D. Higgins spoke out to commend library workers across Ireland for their brave stand against the far-right in a speech last Sunday, 16th June.

Speaking at  Áras an Uachtárain the President said: “libraries must remain places where people can be encouraged to be “inquisitive about the world” in which we live” and praised library staff for creating “an atmosphere so conducive for intellectual curiosity for generations of Irish children, women and men”.

He went on to say, “Protecting libraries and library staff from intimidation, from protests by far-right groups, and ensuring that they do not fall foul to a reactionary and ignorant censorship, but rather remain stocked with the widest range of literature reflecting the diversity of our contemporary society in all its richness, is not just a matter for the Gardaí, but for all of us.” 

Fórsa members who faced down far right agitators in 2023 spoke about their experience at the union’s recent national conference where a union made video documenting their fight back was shown for the first time. Their accounts can be read in The Irish Times and the Irish Independent.

The President underlined the vital public space provided by libraries describing them as “one of the last remaining public spaces to have been spared commodification, where there is no requirement to spend money or purchase anything in order to spend time or be welcomed there”.

In response, Fórsa welcomed the President’s remarks and reaffirmed our view that the protection of staff is "the primary responsibility of local authority management" and that we will continue to work with management to ensure the safety of staff.

The President’s commitment to public libraries is well known. In 2020 he donated over 700 books from his personal collection to Irish public libraries. At the time he said: “Our public libraries are a wonderful place for the sharing of ideas, allowing the writers to encourage creativity, and to share the ideas and concepts contained in the books, with their readers.”

That initial donation has been added to since then. The books were donated mainly to Cabra Library and each one bears an inscription from the President reminding readers that “Books are made to be read and the more they are read the better life can be”.

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