Schools win fight to keep librarians

STUDENTS at 30 disadvantaged schools will still have staffed libraries when they return in September after a Department of Finance row-back on plans to cut librarian posts.

The contracts of at least 21 librarians were not going to be renewed later this year as part of the public service recruitment ban, but the Department of Education has secured a reprieve.

They were part of a project aimed at improving literacy skills in the most disadvantaged communities, with major investment in books and literacy software over the past few years.

The scheme has been credited with helping give skills and confidence to students not to drop out in the same numbers that they would have previously.

Tánaiste and Education Minister Mary Coughlan was lobbied strongly by the affected schools and their local public representatives since the news emerged a week ago, and news of the reversal was greeted with delight yesterday.

Anne Bevan, Leaving Certificate Applied co-ordinator at Terence MacSwiney Community College in Knocknaheeny on Cork’s northside, said it was a moral victory for students.

“It means the students in disadvantaged schools have a better chance of staying in school to do the Leaving Certificate and a better chance in the outside world after school,” she said.

Ms Bevan said the outcome showed the impact of people power, following support from local TDs and the community in Knocknaheeny and around Cork for their school’s library.

It is understood that Ms Coughlan and her officials stressed the value of keeping the librarian posts in place, despite the public service hiring moratorium, in the context of the investment in the facilities over the past four years. Some of the jobs had been secure as the librarians were entitled to contracts of indefinite duration, as they are approaching the end of their fourth consecutive one-year contracts.

The Tánaiste is also expected to finalise details shortly with the Department of Finance on a deal that would allow a limited number of primary and second-level schools fill middle management vacancies in cases where higher-than-average numbers have retired since the moratorium took effect in April 2009.