Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As a constituency politician - I am sure this is shared by all Members - I make regular referrals to both the Citizens Information service and MABS. My experience has been that they provide exceptionally high quality services which are rooted in the community and, crucially and relevant to this debate, managed very well by the community. One concern about this proposal, a matter which concerns me about a range of Government decisions in recent years, is that when it comes to local, grassroots, community-driven services such as these, there is a drive towards an excessive level of centralisation. We saw this in the undermining of the independence of the community development programmes and, more recently, the cuts in funding for the local training initiatives in independent community centres. We also saw it in the centralisation of funding through the social inclusion and community activation programme under the auspices of local authorities. Somewhere in government, whether at Civil Service or ministerial level, there seems to be a lack of trust of local people taking decisions to manage services in the best interests of local communities. Not only is there a lack of trust, but there is also a desire in central government to control to the greatest possible extent these services, despite the fact that all Members in support of Fianna Fáil's motion have said people believe the services are provided adequately.

I listened carefully to the reasons the Minister outlined for the course of action he is taking, one of which is that he believes there are far too many board members. This seems to completely miss the point of what is valuable about locally managed decision-making in services such as these. The large number of board members is precisely what is unique and valuable about this type of enterprise, something we should be supporting, not seeking to undermine. The Minister said that to recognise the community ethos was changing, it was necessary to change the status of board members, the decision-makers, to advisers. That is not a recognition of their status but an undermining of it and relegating them to a secondary role, despite the fact that on many occasions they best understand the needs of local communities.

The Minister also said having a reduced number of board members would improve their ability to appropriately discharge their duties as directors and implement performance management and quality assurance systems. While that is all nice managerial jargon, nowhere, either in his contribution or other documentation, has he justified that claim. He made a series of claims about how regionalisation would allow the Citizens Information service and MABS to better respond, whether to emergencies or better consistency of service provision, etc, when there are already networks to do this through the managers’ networks. I am sure the managers’ networks would be open to enhancing and further improving that role.

The Minister's final point was that he did not have the legal power to interfere in the day-to-day management of the Citizens Information Board. This reform is not about day-to-day management but a profound restructuring of these two vital sets of community services. I do not believe - neither does the Minister - that they would proceed with this without the express consent of the Minister. That is why I am supporting the motion and the amendment.

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