Library fines set to be abolished to encourage more use
Library fines are set to be abolished to encourage more people to use the facilities.
Working hours will increase to 8am-10pm 365 days a year and there will be more self-serve machines as part of the new My Open Library initiative.
It will be implemented in 100 out of 330 facilities across the country to begin with and will also mean that people can borrow a book in Cork and return it in Dublin.
Minister for Rural Development Michael Ring thinks people will still return books even if there is no fine.
He said: "Libraries are owned by the people and they are community libraries and we have done a number of trials and we found them very successful.
"In some of the libraries, we found 150/160% increase in the number of people actually using them.
"I think people will respect the libraries because as I say it is not Government it is community, it is belonging to the people and we want to make these community hubs for the future."
