Citizens Information sees surge in queries

IRELAND’S economic downturn has resulted in a surge in the number of people looking for information and support about social welfare and employment rights from Citizens Information.

Demand for information, advice and advocacy from Citizens Information increased by almost a quarter during the first six months of this year, compared to the same period in 2008.

Last year was a very busy year for its network of 111 centres and 162 outreach services, which dealt with 668,980 calls, an increase of 9% on 2007, while queries increased to 957,044, up 7.5%.

Most of the queries received last year related to social welfare, accounting for 44% of all queries handled. Employment rights was the next highest category, followed by health.

Last year, over 2.5 million people visited the citizeninformation.ie website and viewed over 22 million pages, up 40% on 2007.

Citizen Information’s phone service (1890 777121) received 136,745 queries.

Citizens Information Board, which published its annual report for 2008 yesterday, is the statutory body that supports the provision of information, advice and advocacy on a broad range of public and social services.