Dublin City Council has confirmed that library members will no longer face fines for failing to bring back books.

As of New Year’s Day, all outstanding charges have been wiped from member’s accounts – with no fines to be charged moving forward.

“We are encouraging members of the public to return undamaged, overdue library items to their local libraries,” the council said in a statement.

“There will be no fines to pay and we would be happy to reactivate your library membership for you to begin using your local library again.”

The removal of fines is a key pillar of the national public library strategy which aims to ensure that libraries remain “a free lifelong resource that should be available to all without barriers or charges.”

The strategy notes that fines can have a “detrimental effect on library use by children and the disadvantaged.”

It warns that there is little evidence that they encourage members to return items on time and can even prevent people from returning items when they are late.

Members will continue receiving overdue reminders encouraging them to return the item, renew the loan online or contact the library.

Anyone who fails to return an item after three reminders – will face losing their library privileges and will be asked to come into the library to have them reinstated.