asked the Minister for Local Government the number of public libraries in the city of Dublin in which the citizens advice service is operating; the date the service began; and the number of queries dealt with.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Citizens Advice Service.
67.
I understand that this type of service is provided by Dublin Corporation in each of their 17 branch libraries and that it was introduced in January, 1969. I have no information as to the number of queries dealt with.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary know that there appears to be an unawareness amongst the citizens of Dublin of the existence of this service, including certain Dublin Deputies who do not appear to know of it? If the service is there and the citizens do not know about it, could he ask Dublin Corporation to advertise its existence or even do it through his own Department? Further, could the Parliamentary Secretary ask Dublin Corporation to set up an information service for people phoning in inquiries so that citizens on ringing up can have their queries dealt with?
In reply to the Deputy's first supplementary, I think it would be a good thing if publicity could be given to this service. In reply to the second supplementary, this question of a citizens' advisory service within the corporation is one that could be considered in relation to the reorganisation of local government.
In relation to the information service in the libraries, do the staff have any special training for answering queries?
I think they get some briefing but they are the normal staff of the library service.