Greg DalyThe decision of the board of the Central Catholic Library to reject permanently a plan for Dublin City University (DCU) to care for the library’s collection is contrary to the library’s best interests, according to six former board members who resigned from their positions two weeks ago.
They believe their continued participation in a board following such a path would have been “incompatible with [their] obligations in law”, The Irish Catholic has learned.
In a letter of October 24 intended for distribution to all library members, the six claim the DCU proposal would have preserved the collection and strengthened Catholic studies.
“There is no other proposal on the table that will achieve this, only ill-defined aspirations to identify other solutions to the problems which face the Library,” they wrote, noting that previous boards had not, despite the help of marketing and fund-raising experts, found better options.
They added that “the failure of those who wish that things were different to provide feasible alternative proposals” confirmed their view that other plans have “scant chance of success”, noting that the library has been suffering unsustainable annual deficits, and needs capital investment in the library building as well as proper salary and pension provisions for its one staff member.
The six are former treasurer Fr Brendan Comerford SJ, former keeper of the collection Peter Costello, Felix Larkin, Frank Litton, Michael Sheehy and Tony White.