Information Support
Comhairle is the national support agency responsible for the provision of information, advice and advocacy to members of the public on social services. As a statutory agency, Comhairle comes within the remit of the Department of Social & Family Affairs.
The establishment of this agency in June 2000 was part of a government commitment to the overall mainstreaming of services for people with disabilities. The policy is designed to ensure that services for people with disabilities are provided by the agencies that deliver services to the whole community.
Comhairle provides information and advice on the broad range of social services via
- The network of Citizens Information Centres (CICs)
- OASIS and Citizens Information Database, available on the internet
- Publications available from Citizens Information Centres or directly from Comhairle.
In addition to its information provision role,
Comhairle provides developmental support services for a range of organisations including disability groups, Citizens Information Centres (CICs), other independent information providers and statutory and voluntary agencies involved in information services.
» Citizens Information Centre's: (CICs) are locally based centres that have up-to-date information on matters of public concern such as health, social welfare, taxation, housing, consumer affairs and other matters including information on local organisations and services.
The service is provided locally by volunteers, paid staff, and people on Community Employment Schemes, who receive training, support and back-up from Comhairle.
» Oasis: is a new approach to the presentation and delivery of public service information on the Internet structured around key life events for an individual, such as getting a job or buying a house. The project, currently in development, is being hosted by Comhairle. The Oasis website is accessible at:
www.oasis.gov.ie
» Publications: Comhairle produces a number of publications including Entitlements for People with Disabilities, Entitlements for Over 60's, Bereavement, Where to Complain, Directory of Voluntary Organisations, Employment Rights Explained, Relate, Budget Information Pack, Managing Volunteers, Leaflets, (medical cards, school leavers, information for part time workers)
» Training: Comhairle recognises the important role that training plays in the delivery of quality information services, in the development of social policy and in the support of voluntary organisations, which deliver social services.
In order to achieve this, Comhairle has a Training and Development Service with responsibility for supporting and delivering training for Citizens Information Centres and others throughout the country.
This Service also has responsibility for providing training and support services to those working in the area of money advice and community education within the Money Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS) around the country. Information on Comhairle training courses is available from the Comhairle web site
www.comhairle.ie or from (01) 6059000.
» Comhairle's Social Policy Role: Comhairle has responsibility for the provision of information, advice and advocacy services so as to ensure that individuals have access to accurate, comprehensive and clear information relating to social services. It also has the remit of providing information on the effectiveness of current social policy and services and to highlight issues, which are of concern to users of those services.
Citizens Information Centres provide feedback to Comhairle on the experience of people who seek information about rights and entitlements but for whom the services and supports available are inadequate or inappropriate. Most social policy feedback from CICs to Comhairle is in the form of Social Policy Records that are completed by information givers when they come across client enquiries that have implications for social policy.
Thanks to its relationship with the CIC network, Comhairle is in a unique position to observe and report on the workings of Irish social policies in practice. Comhairle submission and research reports draw on feedback from CICs and other voluntary organisations to identify key social policy issues. In 2000, CICs dealt with over 313,000 queries from the public. A recent survey (Citizens Information Centres Survey Report, April 2001) noted that some 4 per cent of all queries were considered by information workers to have a social policy feedback dimension.
