AN APPEAL against funding cuts to Belfast's Linen Hall Library has been upheld by the Arts Council of NI.
The Arts Council confirmed today that £25,000 has been reinstated to the library's arts and programming budget.
The Linen Hall Library announced in July that the Arts Council had ceased funding the Library through its National Lottery Programme Project funding stream.
This meant that the library stood to lose £40,000 in funding towards their cultural programme of talks, exhibitions, performances and lectures.
Julie Andrews, the director of the Linen Hall Library, said the reinstatement of £25,000 to the library's budget was "fantastic news."
"We want to extend our thanks to all of those who wrote letters, sent emails, made phone calls and rallied around us at this very vulnerable time,” she said.
Founded in 1788, the Linen Hall is the oldest library in Belfast and the last subscribing library in Ireland.
In addition to general public lending, the Linen Hall has extensive collections of material on Irish and Local Studies, as well as 250,000 items in the Northern Ireland Political Collection, an archive of documents related to the Troubles including books, pamphlets, photos, manifestos and even Christmas cards.
