Sligo county councillors have been told the Department of Local Government has agreed to the council employing six staff for its library service, ensuring that libraries under threat of closure will remain open.
Councillors were due to discuss a motion this morning instructing the chief executive of Sligo County Council to keep all the county's libraries open amid a possibility of permanent closure for three branches.
The central library in Sligo town is currently closed for a three-week period but it and two other libraries in the county, Ballymote and Tubbercurry, could be closed indefinitely.
However, in a break through this morning Ciarán Hayes, CEO of Sligo County Council told councillors that the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government sanctioned his request to employ six staff for the library service.
Previously Mr Hayes had said he did not have the staff to keep all three open.
Under a financial plan agreed with the department to tackle Sligo's dire financial situation, the council must cut its workforce by 42%.
At this point, staffing levels have dropped by 37% or by 237 people.
Mr Hayes had said that there was simply not enough staff to run the libraries.
Five hundred people attended a demonstration against the closures outside Sligo Central Library last month.
Mr Hayes subsequently met Local Government Minister Simon Coveney to discuss the situation.
Last week a proposal to increase Local Property Tax charges in Sligo as one means of funding the libraries was rejected by councillors.
But this morning, Mr Hayes said he had just received a response from the department to his request to allow him take on staff for the library service.
Mr Hayes read the email to councillors which stated that the department sanctioned in full the recruitment of all six staff as requested.
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