Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies for their contributions. I listened with interest to the points raised both here in the Chamber and earlier in the office. The debate shows the esteem in which the Citizens Information Board, CIB, and its service delivery partners, the Citizens Information service, CIS, and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, are held by all sides, rightly so.

Earlier, the Deputies heard the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Leo Varadkar, set out in detail the context within which the decision to restructure the governance arrangements for service delivery partners was taken by the board of the CIB. As there is a danger with a debate like this that the important points can be overlooked, I will reiterate what the Minister said in his earlier statement. He said that the changes are being made at company board level only; the changes are required to improve the existing governance structure; the changes are necessary to assist the CIB in the fulfilment of its statutory obligations, its compliance with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies and its implementation of recommendations from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General; and that the changes will bring CIS and MABS organisations more into line with modern public service governance guidelines and requirements where significant State funding is involved.

There have been many references to the provision of local services by local people. It is suggested there will be a loss of independence and impartiality within a more consolidated model. There is no foundation whatsoever to such claims. Front-line services will continue to operate as they do currently, meeting the needs of those who seek information, advice and advocacy, regardless of the changes implemented at board level. It is also worth mentioning that the board of the CIB is not made up of faceless bureaucrats but rather comprises people who represent vulnerable people and groups, who have a sense of community ethos and who represent people with disabilities, mental health problems, victims of abuse and those with advocacy needs. The board also has representation from the CIS and MABS.

Based on their employment and professional backgrounds, it is obvious that these people work with the most vulnerable in our society and hold the citizen at the centre of their focus. It is therefore unthinkable that such people would introduce a measure that would be detrimental to the services provided by the CIS and MABS or that would negatively impact on the people who depend on those services. On the contrary, it is for those same reasons that the board of the CIB wants, more than anything, to improve the effectiveness and efficiencies of the CIS and MABS services by redirecting resources away from unnecessary company administration and back towards front-line service delivery for users.

There has been much mention of the role of community-based volunteers involved in the development of the CIS and MABS. That said, it is critical to remember that these services are paid for exclusively by the State. Every aspect, activity and initiative is Exchequer funded. This House, and its various committees, have made it abundantly clear that publicly funded bodies are held to the highest possible standards in their discharge of public moneys and require such bodies to comply with best practice as set out in the code of practice for the governance of State bodies. The members of the board of the CIB take those obligations very seriously.

That is the context within which the board of CIB made its decision to undertake this restructuring. The board is convinced, after a lengthy deliberative process, that this restructuring will facilitate its executive in fulfilling its governance and accountability obligations and at the same time will provide an opportunity to reduce the administrative burden on individual CIS and MABS companies. That, in turn, should allow employees and volunteers to refocus on front-line delivery, ensuring consistent quality of provision and enhancing and extending services over time.

I remind Deputies that the board of the CIB has assured the Minister that on foot of this decision there will be no job losses. MABS and CIS employees will transfer to the newly established companies. There will be no closure of any services or no change to the location of services. There will be no change to the terms and conditions of serving staff during the lifetime of the restructuring project, and, most importantly, there will be no disruption to CIS and MABS services for those who use them.

The CIB’s aim is simply to improve the governance arrangements by implementing a reduced structure of 16 regional companies to replace the current unwieldy 93 company structure for the sound reasons that the Deputies have heard.

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