Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also thank Deputy Willie O'Dea for bringing forward this vital motion. The CIS and MABS play a significant role in the communities in which they are situated. I am aware of this not only in a personal and political capacity but also as a former voluntary member of the board of management in our local CIS in west Cork.

The proposal by the CIB to abolish the 93 CIS and MABS boards and replace them with 16 regional boards will be detrimental to the local services, not alone in rural Ireland but also in large urban areas. CICs started with local groups of volunteers establishing an information service in the 1970s. They and MABS are distinctly local services, delivered locally. Volunteers play a huge role and are the backbone of the service. This proposal appears to totally underestimate the contribution of the local volunteers and to change the ethos of the CIS and MABS. There are 1,089 volunteers in the CIS network and over 500 in MABS who have a right of participation on boards. These volunteers will not be represented or allowed participate in new regionalised boards. Volunteers are effectively being disenfranchised in this model. Is the Minister actively trying to end volunteerism in this service? Are we going down the road that the last Government under Fine Gael went with the Leader companies? That was very like this situation, wipe out the volunteer and make a complete mess as it did with the Leader programme. Today there are huge concerns that the introduction of a new layer of regional management will create a new layer of bureaucracy and hamper the ability of the service to respond in an efficient and flexible manner to local needs as they present.

The West Cork CIS is an example of one of the 42 CIS entities. It provides a top class information, advice and advocacy service to the people of west Cork. In addition, staff deliver information talks all over west Cork throughout the year in response to requests from community and voluntary groups. For West Cork CIS and most CIS entities this proposed restructuring will result in their having much less autonomy and remove community ownership and active citizenship. I am sure the Minister is aware of the saying, "If it ain't broke don't fix it". There could be no more appropriate saying in this instance. MABS and the CIS must be maintained in our communities and constituencies. They must not become another victim of regionalisation at an additional cost to the taxpayer.

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