Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As you will be aware, the Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body under the aegis of my Department which funds and supports the eight regional companies of the Citizens Information Service (CIS).

I absolutely recognise and value the essential work carried out by staff of the CIS and their dedication to their role in ensuring that people have access to quality and independent information, advice and advocacy services across the country.

My Department allocates annual Exchequer funding to CIB to deliver its services and the services of its Service Delivery Companies, including the CIS companies. However, staff of the CIS are not employees of my Department nor are they public servants. They are employees of independent companies that provide important services to CIB, which are delivered under a Service Level Agreement between each company and CIB.

In July 2023, as part of the Estimates process, a funding request for 2024 was submitted to my Department, which included additional funding for an 11% pay increase for employees of the CIS. My Department understands that this followed a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) process that directly involved both SIPTU and the CIS Employers Group. There was no involvement of CIB in the WRC process. Neither was my Department aware of this pay request in advance.

It is important that any pay request, which impacts important services, are carefully considered well in advance and have the involvement of relevant stakeholders from early in the process.

My Department has relayed this to CIB and encouraged further engagement on this issue by CIB, the CIS Employers Group and CIS staff representatives.