Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and appreciate that he has taken the time to reply to this matter today. I agree with some of what he said. There are benefits to the initiative but I do not think people considered the possible difficulties. Any assessment of a pilot scheme should consider the benefits and downsides, and the downsides were not considered in this process.

This new initiative will contribute to isolation. People who are alone at home on their laptops can now access the library service without speaking to anybody and work in isolation. That is not good for people. This initiative excludes a lot of people who need assistance. Many people who visit libraries during staff hours need to speak to somebody in order to find out where they can find something or go to work, or are not familiar with the system. This service is for those who are IT literate, know how to work the systems and have their library membership card and PINs to gain access. All the older people who do not have such abilities will not be able to use the service. It is for a narrow coterie of people. We need to consider the number of people who will be isolated from using the new service before we satisfy those who will use it and like it. Many people will not be able to avail of the service.

I want to provide the Minister of State with the timescale for the pilot study review. A sample overview of the daily structure states that at 8 a.m. lock releases operated on a timer on the doors of buildings and equipment will be powered up, lighting will come on and alarm sensors will be turned off. The staff will come in two hours later. At 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. staff will leave, having checked that no windows or doors were left open. At 9.40 p.m. loudspeakers will alert those in a building that it is time to leave and at 9.50 p.m. loudspeakers will alert people to the fact that PCs, printers and user equipment will be turned off. At 10 p.m. lights will be lowered, doors will be locked and all remaining equipment will be powered off. What about somebody who is in the toilet? He or she will be locked in for the night. What about antisocial behaviour in the toilets where there will be no CCTV cameras?

Staff are concerned that instead of doing their daily work when they come in, they would have to spend time reviewing the CCTV footage from the previous night to see whether anything happened and tidying up because they will not know who has been there the previous night. Many people may have a bad experience as a result of staffless libraries. That might put people off using libraries.

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