Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I raise this issue as as a Wicklow Deputy and as a member of the Oireachtas consultation group on centenary commemorations and I ask the Minister to restore the essential local history service to Ballywaltrim Library in Bray, County Wicklow. Historical research is the cornerstone of everything the country wishes to portray during the centenary commemorations, which have started and which will continue until 2022. Local historical research is the aspect of historical study that links today's communities/with the lives of their ancestors. Validating those links is the work of professional historians, genealogists and librarians. The work of such professionals underpinned the impressive tourism drive the country witnessed during the successful project, The Gathering, last year. The images of US First Lady, Michelle Obama, and her daughters visiting beautiful Glendalough were beamed across continents and deemed to be a tourism success. Let us not forget that their visit began in the world famous Trinity College library at the end of this street where they were guided through their Irish heritage by historians, genealogists and librarians.

We are surrounded by fine libraries. Members not only have access to a world class research service within the well-stocked Oireachtas Library but the library also has strong links with the National Library next door and Trinity College library up the street. The people of County Wicklow and people worldwide who proudly claim links to the county also deserve access to their history and heritage through their local library service.

In a week Dublin City Council drew a firm dividing line between the people of Dublin and people from mainly outside Dublin who had bought tickets to a concert in Croke Park, let us be careful about creating a wider cultural divide between Dublin and the rest of the country. Let us face it. The Obamas were lucky to have access to a Dublin library. On 28 June 2014, the world's media reported on the events that started the First World War, one hundred years previously. A day later, 29 June, the only public historical research service in County Wicklow closed its doors to the public because Ballywaltrim library, where it is based, no longer has available library staff.

Researchers engaged in valuable First World War local studies during a globally important centenary year have been told to go away. The publicly owned material they need is no longer available for public consumption. Are Wicklow's First World War dead to wait another hundred years? Will Wicklow have a local studies service in time to enable historians to complete work on important 1916 and 1922 research? What of the hotels and restaurants and visitor destinations that will lose out from the wider tourism impact of the closure of Wicklow's local studies service at this critical time?

Librarian skills are needed to curate the valuable collection of books, journals, newspapers, maps and other materials that are essential to the research work of academics, historians, genealogists, local people and visitors who rely on the services in Ballywaltrim library. These professionals are a valued source of expert advice for researchers. Will the Minister support the application by Wicklow County Council to recruit librarian staff to enable the local studies service to be restored without delay?

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