Address by Eileen Fitzgerald (Comhairle)
Councillor Bill Tormey, representing the Lord Major of Dublin, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen
On behalf of Comhairle, it gives me great pleasure to be here today with you to share this very special day, celebrating 30 years of Ballymun CIC.
Today we are celebrating the work and commitment of a very dedicated group of volunteers who established this Information Service in 1975 and all those who have joined as volunteers since then.
You will be hearing more shortly about the history of those early days and some of the experiences of those first volunteers. From Comhairle’s point of view, the relationship between Ballymun CIC and our predecessor organisation, the National Social Services Council as it was then, goes right back to the beginning of the Ballymun CIC service when the Director of the NSSC (Jim Murray) was involved in selecting and meeting those first group of people who came forward to be the first volunteer Information Providers.
In April 1975 the doors were opened for the first time to the public and the CIC was one of the initial group of twenty five CICs which were registered with the National Social Services Council. The CIC was invited to operate in the newly opened Ballymun Library and took up residency there in January 1977. Comhairle would like to recognise that this marks 28 years of CIC service from a single location and of a co-operative relationship between the CIC and the personnel in Dublin City Council’s Library Service in Ballymun — a unique record as no other CIC has had a Public Library as it primary location for that length of time.
For those of you who may not be very familiar with Comhairle, - Comhairle, on behalf of the State, supports the provision of information, advice and advocacy on social and civil services to the public. We achieve this through the delivery of services via three channels:
- Oasis, a web based service, based on a life events model which is citizen centred, e.g buying a house, being made redundant,
- The Citizen Information Phone service, a locall service at 1890777121, available from 9am to 9pm,
- And the network of CISs which provide a face to face service through out the country. Currently, there are 42 CIS delivering information from over 240 locations nationwide.
In 2004, there were over one million 800thousand unique users of Oasis,
There were nearly 75000 requests to CIPs
And were over 676000 queries dealt with by the network of CIS.
Partnerships with services like Ballymun CIC and Dublin NW CIS, are key to Comhairle’s success in meeting our objectives. The collaborative approach between the statutory and community based organisations enables the delivery of service in these 241 locations and we place great value on the commitment and energy of all those people involved in the provision and support of these services.
The tradition of voluntary participation in the delivery of Citizen Information has prevailed for 30 years, as we see here in Ballymun. The founding principle of most of the Services around the country was one where communities came together and sought, by way of voluntary effort, to meet the local community needs and Ballymun community exemplifies this sense of civic responsibility.
While, over the last 10 years the CIS has developed to the point where services are now provided by a combination of volunteer and paid staff we in Comhairle are committed to ensuring the enduring voluntary dimension to Citizens information and the supports that are necessary to sustain that.
The challenges of being a volunteer in Ballymun GIC are varied — as well as becoming trained information providers, these volunteers have ensured the smooth running of the service by taking on the roles of Organiser, Secretary, Treasurer, Training Officer and PRO.
We know that the publicity activities have included the volunteers speaking about the work of the Information Centre on a Marian Finnucane programme about Ballymun and one Deputy Organiser who even dressed up and took part in a Fancy Dress Parade to advertise the Centre, so there’s dedication for you!!
I understand you have a renowned Writer in your midst, Pat Scanlon, as Librarian, she also was an Organiser for a few years, and no doubt had some interesting experiences to fuel her imagination.
In all there have been nine Organisers of Ballymun GIG, and two of the volunteers who have been with the Centre since its inception - Marie McVeigh and Brenda Tyer, have served two separate terms each as Organiser. Another volunteer, Hilda Privett, has been with the service for 21 years and has given many, many years service as the Treasurer. Pat Mahon now holds the position of Organiser.
I know you will yourselves be remembering today those volunteers who gave many years voluntary service to Ballymun CIC and who have either passed away or finished their term of volunteering for a variety of reason, and we want to remember and recognise their contribution also today.
As well as providing information services, Ballymun CIC has also provided FLAC and FISC clinics to the general public and we would also like to recognise the contribution of the volunteers from those particular services over the years.
Today is about celebrating the wonderful history of Ballymun CIC and the volunteers who have made it. It is about recognising that these volunteers have dealt with various changes and challenges over the course of that time and how they continue to look to the future development of the service — in the past year Ballymun CIC has become amalgamated into the new Dublin North West Citizens Information Service., which is part of a strategic development to incorporate ClCs locally in an area or county under one Board of Directors, managed and supported by a Development Manager. As a locally based CIC which has operated on a wholly voluntary basis since its establishment, I know that Ballymun CIC looks forward to bringing its own distinctive perspective and traditions to this development.
We know that our society and communities continue to go through a period of major change. In particular, that way in which we look for and receive information has changed rapidly. From Comhairle’s point of view, we have to try and keep pace with the changing expectations of the public as to how they source the information they need on social and civil services. We share this challenge with Ballymun, Finglas and all the other services around the State and we look forward to our continued co-operation towards this end.
What makes a person volunteer? Certainly, here in Ballymun CIC we can see from these volunteers their belief in contributing to their community in a very practical way and through involvement in community development, in contributing to the growth of better services and facilities in their community. They have given generously of their time, their sense of Civic obligation is to be admired.
I congratulate you all on your wonderful achievements during these 30 years, I trust you have found it of value in your own lives and can look back and say “that was a job well done”.
On behalf of Comhairle, it is my honour to say “Thank you” to you all and also I would like to say thank you to all those who are involved in the delivery of Citizens information in this CIS, paid staff, volunteers and the Board of the CIS , including the chairperson Orla O’Connor.
On this special day, I extend the fullest of congratulations to all the Volunteers of Ballymun CIC, past and present, and it gives me great pleasure to now present these Certificates of Appreciation from Comhairle to the serving Volunteers of Ballymun CIC.
- Alice Tyrell
- Des Byrne
- Dorrie Roche
- Brenda Swan
- Pat Mahon
- Treasa Martin
- Hilda Privett
- Marie McVeigh
- Brenda Tyer
This page was updated on 19th July, 2006