Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The National Public Library Strategy 2023-2027 has been developed jointly by my department, the Libraries Development Unit in the Local Government Management Agency, the County and City Management Association and local authorities. The strategy has been shaped by an extensive five week public consultation that opened on the 8^thof June 2022. This consultation received an extremely high number of responses, with 2,792 online submissions, and 201 paper copies submitted.

The consultation responses showed strong satisfaction with the public library service, highlighting an appreciation of library services generally, the range of resources available and the commitment and enthusiasm of staff. Some areas identified for improvement included the scope of the mobile library service and the marketing of library services.

In addition to the public consultation process, focus group consultations were carried out with a number of relevant stakeholders, along with extensive consultation with local authority and library staff.

I will be presenting the strategy to Government shortly for approval to publish. I am confident that the new strategy will support the continuing development of public libraries as a relevant, modern and high quality community service, available to all.