Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:51 pm on 6 March 2019.
Well, I think it's a real tragedy that we're losing so many of our libraries around Wales and, of course, that is a consequence of the austerity that has been imposed on our country over the past 10 years. Of course, we all know that it's the non-statutory areas that are the first to be cut, and that's why libraries have really suffered in some of our local communities over the past few years. There are some really good models, I think, of communities getting together to ensure that they can continue with their library provision, and I think there's a lot that we can do to learn from each other across Wales on how we can ensure that that provision, as far as possible, can be kept open for the public. Of course, the real answer to this is that we need to see a reversal of the austerity that has been imposed on our country for such a long time.