Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have often raised issues relating to rural Ireland in this Chamber as we have seen the continuing withdrawal and reduction of services in the context of the closure of one-teacher schools, Garda stations, post offices and so on. The latest issue is the crisis that will develop, if left unchecked, in the library service. Several local authorities across the country have already passed motions condemning the proposals for mergers and so-called "efficient rationalisation". Whenever I hear efficient rationalisation linked to population, I immediately start shuddering at the prospect of the negative impact on vast swathes of this country which do not meet the criteria in that regard.

The background to this, which I raised on the Adjournment with the previous Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government last summer, is that the libraries development committee of the Local Government Management Agency set up a strategic working group to review library services. The review determined that efficiencies could be achieved through a shared-services approach. It suggested that some new shared services should be established for library authorities and that a proposed minimum population target of 100,000 would be an appropriate basis for determining a library shared-services structure which would be in line with the local government efficiency review report of 2010. Who decided that the figure would be 100,000? More than likely it was someone up here, in the Custom House, who probably would not know what rural Ireland looks like, let alone have ever visited it. By putting a figure of 100,000 ---