31-January, 2023
From: Natural Women’s Council, Irish Education Alliance, Lawyers for Justice Ireland and Parents Rights Alliance
Dear concerned men and women,
Following our Child Protection event at Leinster House on 26-January 2023, in relation to our non consent to gender ideology and pornography coming into schools, we have launched a campaign to remove the books from libraries that clearly violate the Children First Act of 2015.
Many of you have already been to your local library to take out these books and serve a notice to the library – thank you for taking action so quickly! It is only through a grassroots people movement, public opinion and persistent pushback will make a change.
We received a flood of messages asking for support on this initiative and we thank you for your feedback. Please find below a ‘toolkit’ to to support you as you take action.
It includes what to do when you visit the library and the notice letter to send following your visit. We have provided email addresses to send this too and have included many who endorsed, sponsored and promoted these books.
On the webpage, you will find a the separate documents:
- Letters to send: the pdfs below are for printing off and handing into the library and the other is for emailing.
Insert the names of books found in the children’s section in that library that violate the Children’s First Act 2015. - Children First Act of 2015
- EU Law on the Protection of Children
What do I do at the library?
- Go to a library (you can use your library card to rent books in any library in your county) and ask to see the LGBTQ+ books in the 12 to 17 year old section. (may also be defined as Young Adult or Teens at the library). Please be aware that it was the content we scrutinised and not whether it was a booked targeted for homosexual or straight boys and girls. It just so happened that the books with inappropriate content were in the Young Adult/Teens section.
- You should also ask the librarian what books they have on their database for this section. Some of these may already be on loan but could make their way back on the shelf. Please be respectful towards librarians and library staff.
• A few examples of the books we read that were not age appropriate included “This Book Is Gay”, “What is T” by Juno Dawson, “Gay Now What” by Khalof, “Sex Ed An Inclusive Teenage Guide to Sex and Relationships” by The School of Sexuality Education, “Trans Teen Survival Guide” by Owl and Fox Fisher and there are dozens more that are being identified daily. - Have a brief look though these books to see the content, rent them out and add them to the NOTICE OF LIABILITY (pdf below). Take a photo of these books.
- Hand the NOTICE OF LIABILITY to the head librarian and ask for the name and email of the person in charge of this County Library.
- When home, email this person and CC the list below. Attach the photos of the books and some pages from the books which violate the Children’s First Act 2015.
- Report these books to the local garda station. Ask them to file a report and start a pulse number. (This may take a few days to process so call in or phone to get it). Remind them of the Children’s First Act 2015 and the United Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. You may also provide them with a copy of these acts if you wish. There have already been four cases lodged with the Garda (Lusk, Balbriggan, Swords and Pearse Street) that were dismissed as a ‘civil not criminal’ case. We are sending a letter to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to dispute this outcome.
NOTICE OF LIABILITY FOR EMAILING (PROVIDED BY LAWYERS FOR JUSTICE)
Parents/concerned jndividuals Name and Address:
Date:
To: (insert details of Library)
As a library authority within the meaning and for the purposes of the provisions of the Public Libraries Act 1901 as amended by the 1947 Act, I/we hereby put you on notice that your actions in exposing children to inappropriate reading material are in contravention to Section 10 of the Children First Act in 2015 (‘2015 Act’), Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (‘1989 Act’) and Article 24 (1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’).
INAPPROPRIATE MATERIAL
The inappropriate material that you are currently displaying in your library in the child section aged 12 – 17 years is as follows:
Insert names of books here
I/We will include extracts from these books by email to highlight the sexually explicit material that exposes children to harm due to its content. Indeed, we refer you to the Child and Family Agency’s website and definitions of abuse which state that:“… Showing sexually explicit material to children, which is often a feature of the ‘grooming’ process by perpetrators of abuse…”
The fact that such sexually explicit material centred around gender identity ideology is currently being promoted for children raises significant concerns surrounding compliance with the statutory provisions of the 2015 Act.
CHILDREN FIRST ACT 2015
No doubt you will be aware of your legal obligations, as a provider of a relevant service, to ensure, as far as practicable, that each child availing of the library service is safe from harm while availing of that service.
Schedule 1, Section 5 (a) of the 2015 Act defines a relevant service as providing any work or activity which consists of the provisions of:
‘…educational, research, training, cultural, recreational, leisure, social or physical activities to children…’
In accordance with Section 10 of the 2015 Act, any provider of a relevant service shall ensure, as far as practicable, that each child availing of the service from the provider is safe from harm while availing of that service. The definition of “welfare”includes, in relation to a child, the moral, intellectual, physical, emotional and social welfare of the child. We trust that you are fully cognisant of your statutory obligations to undertake a Risk Assessment and Child Safeguarding Statement before displaying any written material in the children section of your library that is of such content that it may place them at risk of exposure to harm. Under Section 11 (3) a child safeguarding statement shall include a written assessment of the risk and, in that regard, specify the procedures that are in place. As the Child and Family Agency itself refers to exposure of sexually explicit material to children as demonstrative of an example of sexual abuse, it is our submission that it is irrefutable that the library had a statutory obligation to conduct a Risk Assessment and Child Safeguarding Statement PRIOR to displaying the books in question in the children’s section.
I/We would therefore request that you confirm if you conducted a Risk Assessment and Child Safeguarding Statement in relation to books in issue BY RETURN.
No doubt you will agree that any breach of child protection legislation warrants immediate action to prevent any further exposure of harm to children. It is imperative that the books are removed from the shelves with immediate effect whilst this matter is under investigation. The library as a relevant service provider is clearly under a duty to take swift action to protect the welfare of children and ensure that they are not exposed to ongoing abuse.
UNITED CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 1989
It is my/our submission that the library has also contravened Article 3 (1) of the 1989 Act which stipulates: “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”.
CHARTER OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EU
Article 24 (1) of the Charter contains the right of a child to be provided with care and protection necessary for his or her well-being. This reflects Article 3(2) of the United Convention on the Rights of the Child. The right of a child under Article 24 (1) must be respected and protected by EU bodies and by Member States.
Exposing children to such sexually explicit material centred is not in their best interests. A child’s welfare is paramount, and the library has sacrificed the welfare and best interests of children to promote gender identity ideology. In doing so the library has exposed children to the risk of grave harm.
The library is a publicly funded service and is paid by taxpayer’s earned income and yet as a relevant service provider you have demonstrated a blatant disregard and dangerous lack of compliance with the Children’s First Act (2015). As a parent it is my moral, ethical and legal duty to safeguard my children’s interests if publicly funded statutory bodies are failing in their duties. If immediate action is not taken to remove the books in issue from the library shelves further action will be issued including, but not limited to proceedings for injunctive relief, to protect ALL Irish children.
I/We expect/demand an immediate response.
Yours Sincerely,
Mother/Father/Concerned individual Signature
CC’S TO ADD TO EMAIL:
Your Local TDs and county councillors
Your school principal and board of management (the books may have been purchased by the school from the recommended Rainbow list when NCCA had it on their website)
roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie
norma.foley@oireachtas.ie
helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie
secgen@education.gov.ie
info@librariesireland.ie
info@tusla.ie
info@ncca.ie
ceo.office@hse.ie
yoursay@hse.ie
health&wellbeing.strategy@hse.ie
lgbt@into.ie
generalinfo@into.ie
info@belongto.org
office@teni.ie
elaina@childrensbooksireland.ie
jenny@childrensbooksireland.ie
pressoffice@garda.ie
( And any others you wish. You can also BCC and those emails are private)
Additional Documents
Notice of Liability to hand in to Library (click to download document)
Notice of Liability to email Library (click to download document)
Children First National Guidance 2017 (click to download PDF)
EU Law on the Protection of Children (click to download PDF)
LGBTQ+ Reading Guide for Jnrs and Young Adults (click to download PDF)