Dáil debates

Tuesday, 24 October 2006

Citizens Information Bill 2006: Second Stage

 

6:00 pm

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

This Bill is to be welcomed in principle. However, I wish to raise issues relating to its practical application. If someone arrives into my constituency office who is a suitable candidate for referral to an advocacy worker, I want to be sure that the resources exist to deal adequately with the issues. My local citizens information centre in Maynooth covers a very large area. In fact, the three north Kildare towns have a population in excess of the city of Waterford. The CIC does excellent work and is developing all the time. However, the service seems to develop in a manner which puts the egg before the chicken, as the centres are encouraged to seek additional clients, offer outreach services and generate additional workloads, but only at that point do they seek resources to deal with that increase. A need must be established before it can be satisfied. An additional amount of work will be placed on the CICs, even though I am sure they will be up to the challenge. Much of what they do is supported by people on CE schemes.

The advocacy workers currently employed by the CIC are employed on a shared basis, often between different geographical areas or between different CICs. My understanding is that the current advocacy workers are support workers for the information officers in the CICs, rather than working directly with the client. The problem created by having a shared worker between two CICs on Dublin's southside is significantly different from that created by having a shared worker in two CICs in Kildare and Wicklow, or Cork and Kerry. We can end up with a disproportionate service and location can be important from that point of view.

The advocacy officer described in the Bill is dedicated to disability as it relates to social services. That is quite limited and members of the Disability Federation of Ireland probably feel the same way. How will it work in practice? I question the number of advocacy workers to be employed. Will the employment be shared? Who will estimate the case load? Will there be an average case load? There are different levels of population in different parts of the country. How will the location of the advocacy worker be determined? People must have access to the service.

Many citizens information centres have limited physical space. They have been very frugal and have tended to be very good at finding a central location, but space is often very limited and one of their biggest problems can be in accommodating additional community employment employees.

The accommodation will need to be accessible if a drop-in service is to be provided. These are practical issues in providing a service. Is it intended to be a call-in service or will the advocacy workers do most of their work on an outreach basis? For someone in a wheelchair and with limited means, the geography is important. How will they get to the centre if it is to be a drop-in service?

With regard to the estimation of needs, it is difficult to judge the needs in the first year of operation and a better estimation may be possible once the centre is up and running. People will take some time to become familiar with the service and to know that it is available. It will take time to build up a client list. There will be a need to advertise or get in contact with individuals who need the service.

Will the advocacy employee assist groups of people with disabilities? For example, St. John of God's service in St. Raphael's in Celbridge carries out ongoing advocacy work with its clients which is very impressive. I have been involved in a few sessions. During the local elections, I and other candidates were grilled by the clients who had been working on this over several months. They knew exactly the issues they wanted to raise, which were mainly access issues such as dishing footpaths, pedestrian crossings or even moving an ESB pole to allow for the movement of wheelchairs. They made a presentation which included photographs. They put a lot of effort into it. I noted they were more interested in issues than the people I met on the doorsteps who did not have a disability. Many of them live in traditional housing estates with support staff from St. Raphael's. If I as a candidate did not call to their houses during an election, it would be noted and I would be hauled over the coals. The advocacy work certainly worked in the case of those people. It gave them confidence and they were most impressive in a group situation. Will the advocacy worker operate in a group situation?

I have been involved with the network of people with disabilities in Kildare who try to link up the various agencies and organisations for individuals with disabilities in order to address the issues in a comprehensive way by advocating for services and facilities. A group can achieve a greater result than an individual and I recommend that this aspect be developed.

I talked to a number of people who have an association with citizens information centres and who attended a course on the subject of this Bill which was held in Sligo. They were concerned that aspects of their future work seemed vague in the Bill. They work at the coalface and when a person walks in their door, they cannot give an academic response, but rather must provide practical advice because this is what is sought. The existing citizens information centres are being encouraged to expand their workload by providing outreach services. I am concerned that they will be asked to take on much more work without the back-up services being provided and resources will be a key issue.

My contribution is to do with practical issues because the Bill is of no value if the practical side is not addressed and if the Bill does not deliver in practice. Building communities is more than just bricks and mortar. A citizens information centre and an advocacy centre for people who require it are crucially important.

The role of citizens information centres is changing. Many of the people who attend now are immigrants and there may be a language barrier. This was not the case ten years ago. The citizens information centre in Maynooth employs 1.5 information officers and its catchment area has the same population as Waterford city. A small number of staff deal with a very large area, with the support of community employment staff. While the community employment staff receive excellent training, they are often moved on when fully trained and at their best. This service will require continuity and I am concerned it may not exist in this kind of environment.

I welcome section 4 of the Bill as it is a useful mechanism. It is encouraging that voluntary bodies realise they must address this issue of access if they are to be grant aided or receive national lottery funding.

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