Laureate appeals for more library funding
Ireland’s first laureate for children’s literature today made a passionate plea for improved library services for youngsters.
Laureate na nOg Siobhan Parkinson also called on the Government to reinstate funding pulled from the school library system for sake of Ireland’s literary fame.
Ms Parkinson, a fiction writer who has published more than 20 books for children, was revealed as the Laureate na nOg last Monday.
In her first public address in the distinguished role, she told the Children’s Books Ireland annual conference she already has lots of ideas for what she would like to do.
“Some are only at a very early stage of development in my head, but one major focus of this period of time will be children’s libraries,” said Ms Parkinson.
“Many, many children have access to books in their homes. Their parents buy books for them, read books to them.
“But lots of children come from homes where the value of children’s literature is not understood, and these children in particular need the imaginative nourishment that they can only get in a school library.”
Ms Parkinson told delegates in Dublin that she accepts the country is broke, but criticised the amount of money withdrawn from library services.
“There are enormous demands on the public purse, and there are lots of good causes competing for public funds. But the school library system funding that has been withdrawn came to a measly €2m,” she continued.
“Million, not billion. We’re nowhere near Nama territory here. We’re hardly in individual bankers’ pensions territory.
“Two million euro is a lot of money to you or me, and it is a lot of money to our schools, but it is a drop in the ocean of Government spending.
“It is money that we cannot afford not to spend if we want to have that literate, culturally sophisticated nation we are all so proud of and so reliant on.”
