A much-loved county librarian received a once-off standing ovation from the members and officials of Kilkenny County Council this week on the occasion of his retirement.
Jim Fogarty is retiring after many years of service to the library services in Kilkenny.
County manager Joe Crockett said that Mr Fogarty gave an outstanding contribution to the library services in Kilkenny.
“He was well-respected by us all here and by all of his colleagues across the county. He managed a great expansion of the library network and he also led the library in the new direction which it has taken in recent years and he managed it to a very high standard. I wish him a healthy, happy and prosperous retirement,” he added.
Mr Fogarty who was present at the meeting of the members, paid tribute to his staff whom he said he hoped would continue to get the support for their future endeavours.
“Their enthusiasm knows no bounds and I hope they will be supported in the future years. As former county manager, Paddy Donnelly said, we opened libraries in the recession years of the 80s so why should we stop now? Paddy Donnelly was always a very pleasant man to deal with and Michael Malone who replaced him as county manager came to see us on his first day in office and he said a library without book resources is like a hotel without rooms and he proceeded to support that statement,” he said.
“It is sometimes like rolling a stone uphill when you are looking for library services funding,” he said. “ The 3 per cent that the local authorities spend provides a future saving to the exchequer. Get one person hooked on books and they will most likely not get involved in drugs down the road. We have lots done but more to do, to borrow a political phrase. When we have a new city library and a new library for south Kilkenny, we will have a service equal to those of Europe,” he concluded.
