Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy plans to meet with senior gardaí this week amid growing concern about the continued harassment of library staff based in the city centre by groups who are opposed to the presence of LGBTQ+ books on the shelves.
Cork City Libraries issued a statement yesterday afternoon in which they indicated they had little choice but to close their Grand Parade branch in the city centre at 12.30pm because of planned demonstrations.
During the anti LGBTQ+ rally, which got underway at 2pm yesterday, a banner was mounted across the entrance of the library without permission. The banner read :"There are only two genders : male and female."
Cllr McCarthy said that the clear actions of "heightened harassment by a very small minority" had forced the closure of the public library. He claims that library workers in the Grand Parade are being intimidated to such an extent that they are now "locking themselves in to their offices."
"I will be meeting with senior gardai this week calling for a stop to such horrific harassment."
Meanwhile, a counter protest was held outside the library yesterday afternoon in support of both the LGBTQ+ and migrant communities in Ireland.
In recent months staff at the library in Grand Parade have been filmed by individuals who object to the presence of LGBTQ+ materials onsite. They have also been subjected to abuse on social media.
Forsa trade union say that library staff have been called "paedophiles" and "groomers." They are concerned for the health and safety of library workers.
However, protestors insist that certain books on the shelves at the library are inappropriate for children. They have described the materials as being pornographic in nature and claim they simply want to protect children from harm.
Last Friday Tanaiste Micheal Martin was asked if stronger policing was needed in relation to far right factions in Ireland. He said that members of far right groups causing unrest in Ireland are often times simply seeking to increase their own 'profile."
Speaking in Cork he stated that he understood the position of gardaí in relation to policing unrest caused by such groups.
"I am always loathe to wade in and tell the gardaí how to do their job. But actually I understand where the gardaí are coming from here. Very often, the people involved here want notoriety. They won’t profile.
"And I think very often policing is about an intelligent approach, a subtle approach and an intelligence-led approach, and I have confidence in the gardaí and in their capacity to deal with these issues. They are not easy (issues) and there is a balance and judgement calls have to be made."
The Tanaiste previously strongly condemned what he described as "vigilantism" by protestors who earlier this year tore up LGBTQ+ books in Cork City Library. Mr Martin said the tearing up of books, as happened when agitators in Cork destroyed Juno Dawson's This Book is Gay, aimed at young adults, marked a return to the dark days of censorship which spanned much of the 20th century in Ireland.
