Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Táim buíoch don deis atá agam inniu labhairt ar an ábhar seo because there is a lot of disquiet and concern among those working in the area. It is significant that 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the appointment of Tomás Roseingrave as national director of Muintir na Tíre because he identified the services we are discussing as fundamental to the dynamics of community action and development. Today we are speaking about the Citizens Information Board; the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, and the Citizens Information service. Numerous parliamentary questions have been tabled in the House and there was also a debate on a Fianna Fáil Private Members' motion on the issue to which I contributed. There was also a Sinn Féin Private Members' Bill. I acknowledge the expertise and professionalism of those involved in MABS and the Citizens Information service which have long been recognised, both nationally and internationally.

Some information on the restructuring issue is already available. On 30 January, in reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Deputy Thomas P. Broughan, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection stated, "In November 2014 the Board of the Citizens Information Board decided to restructure the governance arrangements of local CIS and MABS services." That implies that the decision was taken during Ms Sylda Lankford's tenure as chairperson of the Citizens Information Board. In June 2015, however, the chairperson-elect of the board, Ms Ita Mangan, told an Oireachtas committee:

No decisions have been made on reconfiguration or exactly how things will be done. Certain proposals have been made but no decisions have been made.

It appears that Ms Mangan did not share her predecessor's view that the board had taken that decision. She was supported in that regard by the then Secretary General, Ms Niamh O'Donoghue, in formal evidence that she gave to the Committee of Public Accounts on 28 May 2015.

In its annual report for 2016 the Citizens Information Board stated the decision to proceed with "a more streamlined ... model" had been taken in October of that year. A press statement by the board in May 2017 retracted that statement, stating "[t]he decision to reorganise and modernise the service took place in November 2014". Subsequently, the then Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, now Taoiseach, in replying to a parliamentary question tabled by Deputy Noel Grealish in 2017, broke new ground by stating the Citizens Information Board had decided on 15 February 2017 to restructure the governance arrangements of both services. A month earlier he had moved an amendment to the Private Members' Bill asking the House to note that the decision taken by the statutory board of the Citizens Information Board had been taken on 15 February 2017.

Here we have a decision which is, in effect, a repudiation by an agency within the public sector of the will of Dáil Éireann, as expressed in the formal division on 30 March 2017, and the repudiation of the position of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection which had issued its unambiguous report on 1 June 2017. It is being seen as a decision to annihilate the tradition of community action and the principles of community development that have always informed the Citizens Information service and MABS. We do not know who made the decision, when it was made or if it was made at all. What we do know, however, is that the process needs to be reset. We need to go back to the beginning and consultation in order to do it correctly and well in order that we acknowledge that the Citizens Information service has been a safe, independent space that is citizen-directed and impartial.

I will finish by quoting from a recent article by Breda O'Brien in The Irish Times. She commented:

For CIB, the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, seems to translate as: “If it ain’t broke, fix it good and proper, and continue to do so in the face of opposition from the Dáil, the joint committee on social protection, and local protest to boot”.

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