Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to come to the conclusion. I will be briefer when addressing the other two questions, but they are important. The reduced volunteer time is a key issue. On the new salaries, it is really unusual that having first of all said the payroll does not count the report says that by paying people it is somehow a benefit to society.

As a result, those who compiled the report have managed to make some of the €7 million cost of the new salaries disappear on the basis that the money is paid to people. If I buy something in a shop, it is of benefit to the owner but I have less money because I have paid for what I bought. Extraordinarily, the new salaries are included as a benefit even though they represent a cost.

In the conclusion to the report, it is noted that the position needs to be monitored and reference is made to the 50% increase in front-line availability and an information provision availability on the part of development managers. That is the only solid figure provided. The €14.9 million figure assumes 50% new availability but the narrative of the report says that we could look at other assumptions. In other words, it could be 30% or there might be no efficiency gain and there will be no freeing-up of time in the context of the provision of front-line services. The 50% can be questioned because it is envisaged that 16 regional managers will take up the work of 50% of 42 posts - namely, that of 21 people - and deal with any compliance issues for Citizens Information Board centrally. There is a huge amount of work that is supposed to be taken on by these new regional managers. Then there are the terms and conditions of the existing development managers. Is information provision included in their terms and conditions? I know that Ms Mangan does not manage them directly but she cannot assume that this work will be taken on by them. There is a concern in this regard. How solid is the figure of 50%? Can Ms Mangan confirm whether she expects that 50% of front-line time will be freed up?

A huge amount of front-line work is currently being done by volunteers. As we discussed earlier, 1,080 volunteers are delivering services. We do not have to guess or speculate about these people because we have the figures. Very conveniently, the Citizens Information Board produced a report in 2010 which indicated that volunteers on the front line were contributing 2,700 hours per week. Using the board's estimate of volunteer time at being valued at €22.25 per hour, this means that volunteers are making an annual contribution to the value of €24 million in respect of front-line services. If even 20% of those volunteers leave, we loose €5 million worth of front-line service delivery. It seems that this missing figure should be in the mix. Giving the volunteers awards is all very well but we have not seen a risk assessment and concerns have been expressed, not only by the boards but also by staff representative organisations that have spoken to us.