Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Citizens Information Service, or CIS, is funded by the Citizens Information Board. I deeply value the important work carried out by employees of the CIS, in providing people with free, quality and independent information, advice and advocacy services across the country.

It is important to point out that employees of the CIS are not employees of my Department, nor are they public servants or employees of CIB. They are employees of independent companies, that provide important services on behalf of CIB, which are delivered under a Service Level Agreement between the companies and CIB. CIB itself is funded by my Department through an agreed estimate as part of the annual budget process.

Last summer, a funding request for an 11% pay increase for employees of the CIS in 2024 was submitted to my Department. The request was also backdated to 2021. This followed a non-binding Workplace Relations Commission process that involved SIPTU and the CIS Employers Group. However, there was no involvement of CIB in the WRC process, nor was my Department aware of this pay request or its scale in advance. Given the scale of the increase, all relevant parties should have been involved in this process from an early stage.

CIB has informed my Department that SIPTU and the CIS Employers Group attended a further WRC process in February, where the matter was referred to the Labour Court, a date for which has recently been set for 14th June. This process is ongoing and my Department is monitoring the situation closely.

If a request for an increased budget provision for a CIS pay increase is formally submitted to my Department by CIB following the Labour Court process, my officials will consider it carefully and engage with colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform on the request with a view to determining if a supplementary estimate can be provided.