City library has ‘duty of care’ to reveal sex pests concern

Denise McNamara

News

By Denise McNamara

Galway City Library has been painted as a magnet for sex pests after a woman with special needs was not allowed to work in the library without constant supervision due to health and safety concerns.

Last February, a work experience placement was organised for Grace Bruen from Bohermore at theAugustine Street facility by the State agency, EmployAbility.

But the arrangement quickly turned sour when it emerged that the 19-years-old, who has Down Syndrome, had to be so closely supervised that she was followed to the bathroom during toilet breaks.

The experience had such a negative impact on her self-confidence, well-being and personal development during her short tenure at the city library that she was crying at night and refusing to sleep in her own room, both at odds with her robust character, according to her mother, Phil Kennedy.

Phil said the agency which organised the placement insisted that close supervision was necessary for her daughter’s safety.

They revealed that the library had been the location for lewd and anti-social behaviour by patrons – one patron reportedly exposed himself to people with intellectual disabilities.

Phil said she withdrew Grace from the library a fortnight into the seven-week placement because of the

Unhappy with the treatment meted out to her daughter, Phil contacted her local TD, Fine Gael Deputy Brian Walsh, to take the matter up with the library.

In his letter to Galway County Librarian Pat McMahon on February 18, Deputy Walsh asked whether the Gardaí had been informed and if prosecutions had resulted

“If it is the case that such behaviour is so prevalent at Galway City Library that a 19-years-old woman requires constant supervision in the interests of her safety, I believe a duty of care exists to warn all other patrons of the existence of such risks,” he wrote in the letter dated February 18.

Now Phil Kennedy has decided to make the issue public because of failing to get an adequate response.

Mr McMahon told the Galway City Tribune he would be writing to Deputy Walsh in the next couple of days with a detailed response.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.