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ONE IN SIX adults living in Ireland contacted one of the country’s 42 Citizens Information Services (CIS) last year, according to its latest report.
A total of 607,913 people contacted CIS in 2016, with a total of 1.01 million queries made overall, an increase of 2% on 2015.
46% of all queries made the CIS related to social welfare issues.
Over one in six of these (462,738) related to payments for families and children, including family income supplement, one-parent family allowance and child benefits.
“What stands out in this report is just how impenetrable our structures and systems are,” founder of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, said.
“This impenetrability is causing daily anguish to people who are simply trying to deal with everyday life events – accessing a public service like healthcare or adult education, dealing with bereavement or managing their finances.”
The number of housing-related queries rose by over 27% from 2015.
CIS dealt with 95,633 housing queries in 2016 – an average of 260 queries every day of the year.
A total of 82,290 queries were made about health issues (13.5% of all queries). Two-thirds of these were about medical cards (54,928).
Face to face
The report also gave an insight into how people access CIS services – with most opting to talk to a person face-to-face about their query.
Four out of five people (80%) who contacted their local CIS did so in person.
Nearly 20% of people made contact by phone, while just 1% contacted the service by email.
Migrants relied heavily on face to face information services, according to the report. 22% of callers whose country of origin was recorded came from other EU or non-EU countries.
Women made up 57% of the callers, with men making up 38%. A total of 47% were between the ages of 26 and 45.
Over 60% of callers made repeat visits to CIS centres last year.
Just over 54% of queries took at least 10 minutes to deal with, 20% took over 20 minutes, and the rest took up to at least 90 minutes.
The statistics were published in ‘Making an impact – The public value of Citizens Information Services’, a report launched by the CIS today.
Plenty of people out there who work the system nothing impenetrable about it.
@Paddy: probably plenty of people out there who have no choice but to work the system legally due to unsustainable independent living, because of unreasonably high cost of living. This is the society our incompetent gov have created.
@Adrian: Or they could, you know, get a job?
@David Ronan: I’d say a lot of them already have a job and are still struggling.
@David Ronan: Simplistic statement at best!
The system exists to assist people in time of need, whether that be through missing work due to injury, poor health or other disability… To withdraw that would mean we live in a purely capitalist state….
@David Ronan: Meanwhile, plenty of other people are living in reality: http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/zero-hour-contracts-clare-has-to-live-with-her-parents-and-cant-afford-to-go-to-the-doctor-3339169-Apr2017/?utm_source=facebook_short
@David Ronan: like its so easy… cop the he’ll on.. and put you brain in gear before opening mouth
@David Ronan: What a very simplistic view of the world. I wish I was as ignorant as you. Perhaps then I wouldn’t be so irritated by idiotic comments on the journal.ie.
@Paddy: Another faceless, false name, fraperoom troll straight out of the traps to make a slur on those who have to use SW
@David Ronan: Dublin bus drivers and members of the Defense Forces have to rely on FIS to make ends meet.
They have jobs, what good is it doing them?
Very easy to throw off the cuff remarks when you don’t know what you’re talking about.
@Dave Doyle: well said
@David Ronan: What jobs???
Not by accident either. The system has been designed now to deliberately deprive people of rightful benefits through obfuscation and delay.
@Mark DeFriest: it should always be tricky to get free stuff from the government. Otherwise it is abused. Or In Ireland’s case is already heavily abused by scroungers.
@Mark DeFriest: Perhaps people leaving the country should be stopped from selling their PPS numbers to those arriving who have intention of finding jobs and claiming. For those who have migrated here must be delighted to have a social welfare that does not exist in their home countries but as always IMC are ready to jump on any weakness on our system whenever it seems to work against the free loaders but they have no system to expose the wholesale abuse of our system. I think people should always get what they are “entitled to” but ripping of our system makes sure that there is never enough for genuine people.
@Jho Harris: You should pass on that information about the sale of PPS numbers onto the Gardai so it can be investigated…
@Joseph Bloggs: Try losing your job through no fault of your own and then try to navigate Ireland’s broken welfare system, and report back to us on your (lack of) progress…
This is why T.D’s spend half their time dealing with queries from constituents regarding the social welfare and having to send letters to the department to get what you are entitled to in the first place!
@Jho Harris: So who exactly are these “entitled” you refer to who are ripping us off, those on welfare or those paying 0.005% tax…? Who is costing us more I wonder…
@Patrick Kearns: Keep wondering, I replied and cited several cases with links too but this editor decided not to appear so perhaps you will release that this “paper” from censorship with it suits it, which is too often.
@Jho Harris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDHE9K4O9gU
The welfare dependents out there want to know exactly how muich they can game the system.. And of course the department is helpful enough to show them exactly how much they can take off taxpayers. Happily points them in the right direction. What a country.
Its on the to-do list for illegal immigrants, we don’t deport people until they have exhausted the system, welfare wont make a payment your not entitled to, but go to your local citizens advice and you will be connected up with a HSE community welfare officer who will make emergency payments weekly to you to the same amount you would be entitled to on the dole, were not talking about asylum seekers , were talking about the same people your likely to see begging on the streets. were a soft touch.
was that not the year Joan Burton decided to give a bribe, sorry water grant to everyone in the country? might explain a few things.
My God people do love being a victim of anything.
Just gonna pop this here real quick before the inevitable cess pool starts to form:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/better-living-technology/201408/why-the-online-trolls-troll
@Patrick Kearns: preempting the trolls by trolling, ingenious.
@Patrick Kearns: you sir are virtue signalling.
@Government Sachs: And you Sir, are anonymous.
“Online forums, the comment sections of news media sites, and sites such as Reddit and Twitter allow people to make up screen names or handles that are not linked to their real world identity. The online disinhibition effect suggests that this anonymity may drive more deviant behavior, because it is easy to avoid consequences.”
@Patrick Kearns: what’s that got to do with me? I’m polite, I don’t call names and I don’t single out groups for ridicule. I don’t abuse my pseudonymity but thanks for the heads up regardless. My original comment was said with tongue in cheek BTW, chill Bro.
@Government Sachs:You’re welcome for the head’s up, I can only hope more people become aware of this or that at least TheJournal does something to better fix their famously toxic comment forums besides removing the red thumbs, because when the top comment is vitriolic, it becomes the dominant tone for the thread so more always follows. I’m trying to hold a mirror up to see if people recognise their own behaviour.
I got the impression that you were saying I made my posts with the intention of ingratiating myself upon TheJournals forums because I’m pretty sure that’s what “virtue signalling” means. However you are anonymous and if I were a betting man, I’d be willing to lay good money that you have indeed been impolite and called names because of it, whether you realise it or not.
@Patrick Kearns: The Journal should take note of that link you posted Patrick.
Employment, including low skill jobs are needed to give people a way of life and is more dignified for people.
Citizen information centre is really a Government funded scammers information centre
Excellent service ,helped me with sound advice in a private setting ,on occasions when I couldn’t fathom out which Department to contact and provide invaluable help to the people of Sligo,
Damned right it should be difficult to claim benefit of any kind relating to unemployment or in work benefits, hoops should have to be jumped through regularly to make sure the tax payer gets a fair deal. I would even go as far as ensuring they’re only paid in vouchers too.
Some on here keep screaming “but it doesn’t pay to work” and that is precisely why benefit should be hard to claim. It’s only because the benefits system (take far too high rates of family allowance for instance) is too easy employers get away with paying low wages.
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