October 2011
Congratulations to Dublin City Centre Citizens Information Service who have reached the finals of the inaugural Dublin Living Awards in the 'Outstanding Contribution to Dublin Life' category. The Dublin Living Awards recognise and celebrate Dublin's best businesses, services, venues and events. The judging panel has selected the finalists and the winners will be chosen by the public. The closing date is Tuesday 25th October 2011. For further details on the awards and how to participate go to www.dublinlivingawards.ie.
The Dublin City Centre CIS was chosen for its provision of a vital service to the people of Dublin. Many of those people are currently in difficult life situations and do not know where to turn for information and advice about their rights and entitlements.
In 2010 over 70,000 queries were dealt with by the three public drop-in centres in O'Connell St, North King St and Sean Mc Dermott St. Since the onset of the recession the service (like many other Citizens Information Services around the country) have assisted large numbers of people who have lost their jobs and sought advice about areas of concern such as welfare supports, redundancy payments and tax refunds. In September over 7,500 queries were dealt with in the three city centre services on a very wide range of issues. The service also advocates on behalf of clients to assist them in securing their rights and entitlements and in some cases represents clients at Employment or Social Welfare Appeals Tribunals. Foreign language clinics and interpreters are also available for Polish, Russian and Chinese speakers and migrants can avail of the support of an Advocacy Project Worker.
Dublin City Centre CIS also provides access to specialist services including FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres), CAVA (Chartered Accountants Voluntary Association), Refugee Information and Women's Aid.
Dublin City Centre CIS has published a guide to services in Dublin City Centre in conjunction with the Central Library and the North West Inner City Network. 'Find Your Way' guides and maps link people in to essential support services and are widely used by statutory and community and voluntary organisations. Directories are available in electronic format at www.dublin.ie/arts-culture/find-your-way.htm. Hard copies and copies of Annual Reports, which detail the work of DCC CIS, are available from deirdre.casey@citinfo.ie.
Dublin City Centre CIS is part of a national network of services, provides an independent, free and confidential, information, advice and advocacy service on a very wide range of issues including Social Welfare, Employment Rights, Health Services, Housing, Taxation, Immigration. Please see Citizens Information website at www.citizensinformation.ie The service receives funding and support from the Citizens Information Board.
