Chapter 2: Structure, functions and strategic priorities of Comhairle
2.1 About Comhairle
Comhairle is the statutory agency responsible for a range of activities related to the provision of information, advice and advocacy on social and civil services to the public. Comhairle has particular responsibilities with regard to these services for people with disabilities. Comhairle's area of responsibility is determined by its statutory functions as laid down in the Comhairle Act 2000 as may be amended by the Comhairle Amendment Bill 2004. The functions are set out in Section 1.2 below.
2.2 Functions
The Comhairle Act 2000 sets out Comhairle's functions as follows:
- to support the provision of or, where the Board considers it appropriate, to provide directly, independent information, advice and advocacy services so as to ensure that individuals have access to accurate, comprehensive and clear information relating to social services and are referred to the relevant services
- to assist and support individuals, in particular those with disabilities, in identifying and understanding their needs and options and in accessing their entitlements to social services
- to promote greater accessibility, co-ordination and public awareness of social services and of information, advice and advocacy services provided in relation to such services whether by a statutory body or a voluntary body
- to support, promote and develop the provision of information on the effectiveness of current social policy and services and to highlight issues which are of concern to users of those services
- to promote and support the development of voluntary bodies providing social services including, where the Board considers it appropriate, by the provision of financial and other resources such as integrated information, training and development services
- to furnish advice, information and assistance to the Minister in relation to the development of any aspect of social services
- whenever the Minister so requests, to design schemes relating to social services to address needs identified by the Minister concerning such services and, where the Board considers it appropriate to do so, to provide such services directly
- to promote, develop, encourage and assist, through the provision of financial or other resources, the work in relation to social services of such bodies as the Minister may specify
- to prepare strategic plans
- to perform any additional functions assigned to the Board under section 7.(2) of the Comhairle Act 2000
The Comhairle (Amendment) Bill 2004 published along with the Disability Bill 2004 is mainly concerned with extending Comhairle's remit to include the establishment of a personal advocacy service for people with disability.
In the Outline Sectoral Plan under the Disability Bill 2004 published by the Department of Social and Family Affairs there is a proposal that Comhairle prepare a scheme for sign language interpretation services.
The Comhairle (Amendment) Bill 2004 as published describes social services as "any service provided by a statutory or voluntary body which is available to the public and includes, but is not limited to services in relation to health, social welfare, education, family support, housing, taxation, citizenship, consumer matters, employment and training, equality, asylum and immigration."
2.3 Mission, values and priorities
2.3.1 Mission Statement
Comhairle's mission is:
"To ensure that individuals have easy access to impartial and independent information, advice and advocacy services so that they can identify their needs and access their entitlements to social and civil services".
2.3.2 Values
To achieve this mission, Comhairle is guided by the following principles and values:
- access to information is a basic right of all individuals
- independent, impartial information assists people to access state services
- information, advice and advocacy services should be of a high quality and developed in consultation with customers
- each staff member's contribution is of value to implementing Comhairle's mission
- there is a commitment to partnership with voluntary and statutory service providers in the provision of information, advice and advocacy services
2.3.3 Priorities
Comhairle's four strategic priorities as outlined in its second strategic plan in 2003 covering the period July 2003 to June 2006 are:
- to produce and publish high quality integrated information on social and civil services
- to promote and support the delivery of information, advice and advocacy on social and civil services to the public
- to influence policy developments by highlighting the concerns of service users as to the effectiveness of social and civil services
- to promote accessibility to information, advice and advocacy and heighten public awareness of social and civil services
2.4 Structure
Comhairle's headquarters is in Dublin at George's Quay House, Townsend St, Dublin 2 (until June 2008 the headquarters were at Hume House, Ballsbridge). There are five regional offices, and a number of local offices around the country. Comhairle currently delivers services both centrally and regionally.
Comhairle has a staff complement of over 100 people. Comhairle's senior management team consists of a Chief Executive and two Senior Managers based in Hume House. The Senior Managers are responsible for Development and Support Services and Regional Services respectively. The Development and Support Services which are based centrally, are responsible for developing Comhairle's information resources and services, establishing standards and providing other supports to regional services and customers.
Service teams based in Hume House include Information and Advice, the Oasis Project, Development and Social Policy, Training and Development, Human Resources (HR) and Administration, Finance and Public Relations (PR), and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
The development of information services throughout the country is co-ordinated and managed by Comhairle's five regional service teams. These teams provide support and resources, including training, to organisations, both statutory and voluntary which have information-giving elements to their work. Regional services have responsibility for supporting the network of Citizen Information Services (CISs) and the Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS). They are also involved with local government and with statutory and voluntary local development bodies in developing an integrated approach to the delivery of public services. The regions are supported by central services to deliver services effectively to customers.
Comhairle's five regional teams are based in Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, Dublin (Park House, North Circular Road) and Tallaght. For contact details please refer to our list of Comhairle offices in Appendix II.
2.4.1 Decentralisation
Comhairle's head office and central functions have been listed for relocation to Drogheda under the Government's decentralisation programme. Comhairle's senior management, Development and Support Services, Finance and Human Resources functions totalling 47 posts will be involved in the transfer. The timescale for the relocation has not been confirmed at the time of production of this edition of Comhairle's FOI manual
Comhairle Organisational Chart Link
A full organisational chart, including the names of staff members is provided in Appendix 1. Comhairle offices are listed in Appendix II.
2.5 Budget
Comhairle's budget allocation for 2005 was €20.9m. This includes the direct cost of funding the Citizens Information Services (CISs) and the Citizens Information Phone Service, which is estimated as €9.575m. A €1m allocation for the development of advocacy services for people with disability also formed part of the 2005 budget.
Comhairle's budget allocation for 2006 is €24.362m. This includes the direct cost of funding the Citizens Information Services (CISs) and the Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS), which is estimated at €10.641m. A €1.4m allocation for the development of advocacy services also forms part of the 2006 budget.
2.6 Comhairle's customers
Services are provided by Comhairle to the public mainly through other agencies. Comhairle's main customer groupings include:
- Citizen Information Services (CISs)
- Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS)
- voluntary and statutory organisations
- people with disabilities and their organisations
- Money Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS)
- other information services.
- members of the general public
Details of the services provided are outlined in Chapter 3.
2.7 Customer services and complaints procedure
Comhairle's commitment to its customers is set out in a Customer Charter, which indicates the level of service that can be expected by Comhairle customers. The charter is displayed in Comhairle offices and a copy is attached in Appendix III to this manual.
A supporting Customer Action Plan describes the processes by which the Charter commitments will be delivered and evaluated. The Action Plan is available on request from the HR and Administration Section in Comhairle's head office and on the Comhairle website.
An important part of the Customer Charter is the provision of an accessible, transparent and simple to use system for dealing with customer comments and complaints about the quality of service provided. Comhairle's customer service officer can be contacted at 01 6059000 or e-mail customercomplaints@comhairle.ie or by writing to the Customer Services Officer, George's Quay House, 43 Townsend St, Dublin 2.
