This week I joined IMPACT library staff in the Lexicon library in Dún Laoghaire who were expressing their opposition to a council management decision to proceed with the policy of having unstaffed libraries. I accept that HR matters are ones for council management, but at a time when the public library service is being eroded, libraries are being closed and a policy of staffless libraries is being pursued and a national tender for library stock is being considered, we should start a national conversation about the value of library services. Their space is democratic, cultural, economic, education and social. Few other spaces can boast such a diversity of service focal points. What value do we place on this combination of classes, workshops, programming and supports for combating digital exclusion? For Sinn Féin, this represents accessibility and inclusivity, none of which would be possible in staffless and underfunded or closed libraries. In this light, I request the presence of the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys, or the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, to progress this conversation on the downgrading of library services.

On a point of order, my understanding is that, when I proposed that the Bill be taken, I was obliged to reference the date on which it would be taken. Is that correct?

Not yet. We will come to that matter.

That is fine.

We will do it at the end of the Order of Business.