Date: 9 October 2020
Green Party TD for Wicklow Steven Matthews TD has welcomed the news that Wicklow County Council has received a grant of over €31,000 for Wicklow Libraries and socially inclusive projects following an announcement from his party Colleague, Minister Joe O’Brien. This funding predominantly comes as part of the 2020 Dormant Accounts Action Plan. Discussing the news, Deputy Matthews said:
“This is very positive for the library service in Wicklow. We’ve seen how impressive and resilient our libraries were throughout the pandemic in maintaining a high level of service, even when they were unable to open their doors. I would like to take this opportunity to thank every member of staff involved in the provision of library services in Wicklow for their incredible efforts in recent weeks and months and I hope that this new grant funding can go some way to assisting them further. The scheme will see 90 per cent of the project costs being provided centrally while Wicklow County Council will fund the remaining 10 per cent.
“It is my understanding that the grant will be used to facilitate a number of socially inclusive projects including programmes that encourage library usage in communities where uptake in library cards is historically low, nature focused learning projects for younger children and a programme to ensure the library is a welcoming space for the LGBTI community.
“The last few months have been very difficult and any funding which helps our libraries to reach out and engage with communities is extremely welcome. I think the library service is something that we can sometimes take for granted but when lockdown hit and the possibility of not being able to access the huge range of services it offers, the reality hit home about how many of us rely on it”, concluded Deputy Matthews.
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