Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has expressed support for librarians at Cork Central Library who have been harassed by protesters who object to the presence of LGBTQ+ books onsite and warned some of the objectors “want to be arrested”.
Last Saturday the library on Grand Parade in the city centre made a decision to close its doors at 12.30pm after a banner was mounted by protesters across the entrance without permission. The banner read: There are only two genders : male and female.
The decision to close was taken “in the interests and safety and wellbeing of the public and library staff”.
A number of the protesters who attended a rally outside the library last Saturday have been linked to far-right groups in the United Kingdom. It is understood they came to Cork to support a small number of locals who are opposed to LGBTQ+ materials being on the shelves of Irish libraries.
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Speaking in Cork, Mr Varadkar said he wanted to show solidarity with librarians and library workers.
“You know, libraries are repositories of knowledge, they’re repositories of wisdom, they’re where people go to learn things, and I think it’s a very disturbing element that we’re seeing, I think [this is] spill-over from abroad into Ireland, the idea that certain books shouldn’t be read or certain books [should] be banned.
“It’s not long after you start burning books that sometimes people start burning other people. We shouldn’t forget our history in that regard,” Mr Varadkar said.
“I have spoken to Minister O’Brien about this and also to Minister McEntee, and we want to make sure that any approach is an appropriate one.”
Mr Varadkar said that for rallies of this nature, the Garda generally assess the risk of escalation.
“You know, there are people on the extreme right and on the extreme left who wants to be arrested, you know, who want to be able to accuse the gardaí of being heavy-handed, and engaging in brutality, and that’s why I think the gardaí have to make the right judgment call as to how they deal with each particular incident. And I’m confident they’re making the right decision.”
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney has said he is “disgusted” by what happened at Cork Central Library last Saturday.
“You know, the library in Cork city centre, it’s a really important part of the infrastructure of the city – for children, for adults, for people looking for a bit of peace and quiet to go in and read a book, or to take a book out.
“And the idea that the libraries are deliberately being targeted by people who have political agendas, often who are looking to cause trouble, and are looking to shut down appropriate education facilities, looking to get certain books banned and intimidating staff – all of that is completely unacceptable.”
The Forsa trade union said library staff have been called “paedophiles” and “groomers”. They are concerned for the health and safety of library workers.
However, protesters insist certain books on the shelves at the library are inappropriate for children. They have described the materials as being pornographic in nature and claim they want to protect children from harm. They also claim rally numbers are under-reported in the media.