IRISH police said no arrests were made following protests on Thursday over the presence of LGBT books in a Dublin library.

Two opposing groups of around 30 people each gathered outside Swords Library in Dublin.

One group, who said they were supporters of the Irish Education Alliance, Parents Rights Alliance and the Natural Women’s Council, said they were protesting against a number of books they say are “sexualising, indoctrinating and grooming” children and young people.

One of the books is Juno Dawson’s This Book is Gay.

A counter-protest organised by People Before Profit said they were there “in support of the LGBT community.”

A spokesperson for Fingal County Council told the Irish Examiner that “public libraries are trusted and valued assets at the heart of the community dedicated to serving everyone’s information needs.” 

In a statement, Fingal County Council said parents and guardians “are responsible for their children in the library, and for their children’s selections and use of library materials and services, including access to the internet and online resources.”

A spokesperson for the Garda confirmed that “no arrests were made” from either of the protests.

Public libraries in Ireland have been the scene of a number of disturbing protests against LGBT literature in recent months.

In Cork protesters laid siege to the city library for five weeks in a row to demand the removal of Ms Dawson’s book from the shelves.

Library staff were subjected to verbal abuse while some protesters took books from the shelves and destroyed them. 

Staff have also been intimidated through legal threats from protesters.

There was also an incident at Ashbourne Library in Meath, where a protester harassed a staff member to tell them which librarian was responsible for bringing Ms Dawson’s book to the library. 

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Ireland in 1993 and in 2015 the country became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by a popular vote.