Workers’
Party Councillor Ted Tynan has accused management at Cork City Council of
“backwards thinking” following cuts in services at the Frank O’Connor Library
in Mayfield as a result of understaffing.
Cllr. Tynan is to raise the issue at tomorrow (Monday) night’s meeting
of Cork City Council.
The
library will now be closed on Thursdays and will no longer open late on
Wednesdays. These cuts have forced the
scrapping of a Junior Chess Club which has been an outstanding success since it
was established some years ago on the initiative of one of the librarians.
Cllr.
Tynan said that the reduction of staff and opening hours at the Mayfield
library made no sense and showed a tendency on the part of some in City Council
management to pick soft targets for cutbacks.
“The
Frank O’Connor Library is an important part of the fabric of community in
Mayfield and the North East Ward. It
should be used a lot more and its services should be better advertised by the
City Council.”, said Cllr Tynan.
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| Mayfield Library (Photo: Cork City Council) |
He
continued, “The abandonment of the Junior Chess Club is a serious mistake.
Chess is recognised worldwide as being beneficial to the developing minds of
children especially in expanding their thinking and analytical skills. In 2002 an important US study proved that
children who played chess from an early age scored significantly higher on all measures of academic
achievement, including maths, spatial analysis, and non-verbal reasoning
ability”.
The
Workers’ Party councillor pointed out that Frank O’Connor, the renowned Cork
writer after whom Mayfield library is named, had been a librarian before he
became a full-time writer. “I’m sure
Frank O’Connor, if he were alive, would be deeply disappointed at this
retrograde step in downgrading the library and that nearly 50 years after his
death this service is going backwards”,
