Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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221. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the public library services that are currently practising staff-less hours; the public libraries which plan to use staff-less hours in the foreseeable future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29356/16]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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223. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of public library and book-mobile closures there have been in the past five years; the number of closures he foresees based on recommendations of the final report on the pilot by the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29359/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 221 and 223 together.

The provision of public library services is a matter for each local authority in its capacity as a library authority under the Local Government Act 2001. This includes determining the need for library branches or mobile libraries in their respective areas. My Department has no role in this matter.

My Department is currently working with local authorities to extend the initial pilot phase of the Open Library service, an initiative under ‘Opportunities for All’, A Strategy for Public Libraries 2013-2017.

The initial Open Libraries pilot was introduced in three branches from November 2014, in Tullamore and Banagher Libraries in Offaly and Tubbercurry Library in Sligo. The service continues to operate and feedback from users has been very positive to date.

It is planned to extend the service to a further 23 branches from early 2017. The aim of the extended pilot is to gather further learning and to develop a model that may be rolled-out on a mainstream basis in the longer term. I am confident that the service will continue to grow in popularity with users and communities and will be supported fully by staff in the participating branches.

The branches that are expected to offer the service in 2017 are in the following table.

There will be no closure of library branches as a result of the Open Library service. Similarly, there will be no reduction in staffing levels or staffed hours as a result of the service, either in the short or long term.