Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses before us today have outlined exactly the concerns that I have, as a public representative in a rural area. Is this a direct attempt to prevent poor people from getting information about their entitlements? Is that what this is about? Is that what the Government is about? I can see, and am not afraid to say it, that the CIB would not be doing what it is doing without ministerial approval. As Deputy Michael Collins has said, this is similar to what was done to the Leader programmes and the rural development organisations by the former Minister, Mr. Phil Hogan. Is this another savage attack on rural Ireland? I am afraid it is just that.

The CIB representatives described the service provided by MABS as ranging from extremely good, to average, to quite poor. Never once, in my role as an elected public representative in Kerry - both as a councillor and a Deputy - have I heard a complaint about MABS. All I have heard is people expressing gratitude for the information that MABS provided. As everyone is well aware, most of the people who provide information in the citizens information offices are volunteers. If we are going to reduce the number of citizens information offices, we will make the service regional rather than local. In rural Ireland, we know all about regional restructuring. When we hear the term restructuring, whether applied to the ambulance service or to any other service, we know that it will actually mean a reduction in services. We will move from having a service with which we were quite happy to a reduction in that service. The witnesses have already confirmed this to be the case. Why is this happening? Will it be a State-driven service that will only tell people what it likes because it might not suit the Department that would be paying out the money? That is what I am afraid of. Great work was being done by the CIS boards at a local level but the CIB is going to take them over and deprive the people of the service they were getting. The service is going to be dismantled.

In 2017, the CIB is to receive €54 million, of which €15 million is to be given to the CIS groups and €24 million to MABS. How much of the budget is going to be kept by the CIB in 2018? It is shameful, what is happening. As elected representatives, Deputy Michael Collins and I will do everything we can to highlight this shameful situation. What will happen to people in rural areas if they lose this great service, which is mostly volunteer-driven? What will be the role of volunteers in the future if the CIB gets its way? This is a very serious matter and will be treated as such.