Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One CIB, eight CIS and 90 CICs have closed - all the acronyms would make one's head hurt. In essence one of the difficulties with the system is that the Minister cannot direct them because they are separate companies, but it was not any one of those companies that decided this, it was us. It was the Oireachtas that decided to have independent companies. The community and voluntary sector is plagued with a structure where we have set up a system that devolves responsibility, but that is a bigger point.

Citizens information centres, CICs, are absolutely key. All Members' clinics would have twice the number of people in them if it were not for those centres. I agree with the Minister on the issue of volunteers but we need to do more to try to support the CICs to recruit volunteers where we can. I am aware there were issues around the use of community employment workers in some of those centres but the closure of centres is very concerning. I have mentioned a number of closures and while the website is a fantastic service it does not replace the walk-in service that many of the CICs operate.

See this speech in context