Call for hiring embargo to be lifted due to Cork City library service chronic under-staffing

Chronic under-staffing in Cork City’s library service has resulted in unplanned branch closures, reduced opening hours, and the closure of specialist sections.

It has now prompted calls for the incoming government to lift a recruitment embargo to ensure that Cork, recently designated a Unesco Learning City, can hire more library staff and provide a professional library service.

The news comes just days after it emerged that two applications from the city for a slice of a €22m national fund for the regeneration of the Central Library on Grand Parade and a new library in Mahon were shot down.