Official opening of Nenagh Citizens Information Centre
Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, conducts opening
Image 1 of 4
Pictured at the official opening were left to right: Nora Richardson, Information Officer; Declan Kennedy, Information Officer; Darren Ryan, Development Manager for Tipperary; Phil Wilson, Administrator; Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee; Martin Quinn, Chairperson North Munster Citizens Information Services; Ciarán Casey, Regional Manager, and Nicola Walshe, Finance Executive Citizens Information.Image 2 of 4
Minister Helen McEntee signing the Visitor Book at the new Nenagh centre and is seen here with Darren Ryan, Development Manager for Tipperary with North Munster Citizens Information Service.Image 3 of 4
Minister McEntee with volunteers from Nenagh Citizens Information Centre. Front row, left to right, seated: Alice Kellett, Minister Helen McEntee, Phil Burke, Mariana Mereacre. Standing left to right: Philip O’Meara, Kathleen Courtney, Mary Foxton, Kathleen O’Meara, Mary O’Donovan, Patricia Fitzgerald, Mike Roycroft, Johanna Kenney, Jim Kennedy.Image 4 of 4
At the opening ceremony: Ciarán Casey, Regional Manager NMCIS; Darren Ryan, Development Manager for Tipperary CIS; Martin Quinn , Chairperson of North Munster Citizens Information Services; Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee; Nicola Walshe, Citizens Information Board, and Joe MacGrath, CEO of Tipperary County Council.The official opening of the refurbished Nenagh Citizens Information Centre was conducted by the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, on Thursday, May 19. The minister was in County Tipperary to conduct a series of engagements and the opening of the centre at Pearse Street, Nenagh, was the first stop in a busy itinerary. Nenagh has a very proud record of service to the citizens of the area in information provision stretching back to 1975, and the service provided over the years was lauded repeatedly during the various speeches at the event.
Nenagh CIS (Citizens Information Service) is under the remit of the North Munster Region which incorporates counties Tipperary, Clare, Limerick and Waterford and members of the board and staff along with many dignitaries were present to welcome the minister to Nenagh and for the cutting of the ribbon and blessing of the newly refurbished premises.
The minister in her address paid tribute to the work of the service in Nenagh and complimented all those involved in delivering such a professional service to the citizens of the area.
She said: “I am delighted to be here in Nenagh to officially open this premises. I am aware of the history of the service in the town and of its different locations before arrival here in Pearse Street and I want to wish the team here in Nenagh CIS every success in these new offices. I want to thank the staff and volunteers who have delivered the service here for the past 47 years and to wish well to the staff, with the assistance of volunteers, who will deliver the service into the future.”
The minister also thanked Citizens Information Service for the support for those who are fleeing the crisis in Ukraine. “On behalf of the Government I want to thank the board and staff of North Munster CIS for providing advocacy and advice to those arriving in Ireland from Ukraine. You are providing a very valuable and vital service to those who are in the greatest needs and are fleeing a war where unspeakable crimes are being car-ried out. We very much appreciate the service that you are providing.”
The Chairperson of North Munster Citizens Information Service, Martin Quinn, spoke about the fact that it was the National Community Development Organisation, Muintir na Tíre, that was responsible for the setting up of community information centres throughout the country. This arose through the passing of a resolution in 1968 to set up information centres in Ireland modelled on the Citizens Advice Bureaux in the UK.
“From the very beginning, values such as impartiality, independence and confidentiality as well as the ability to respond to local needs were the key determinates of the centres,” commented Mr Quinn, who went on to call for the return of volunteers, in all roles, to the service.
“As a service we lost all of our volunteers during the pandemic and now it is really important to bring the service back to a level where there is a sufficient compliment of personnel to meet the growing demands of the service. I would therefore urge the management and board of CIB to accept the recommendations of the Volunteer Strategy Group on the reintroduction of volunteers so that we can bring the service up to a level where offices can resume a greater level of face to face and advocacy service and where we can provide the necessary training to both volunteers and CE participants, to enable them to continue to deliver a profes-sional service to the citizens of the region.”
The chairperson pointed out that this was vital in retaining existing services in Clonmel, Tipperary Town, Thurles, Roscrea, Waterford city, Shannon (Clare) and Newcastlewest (Limerick), which could be impacted due to lack of staffing resources.
Other speakers at the event included Nicola Walshe, Finance Executive, Citizens Information Service and Ciarán Casey, Regional Manager, North Munster CIS. Darren Ryan, Development Manager Tipperary, was the MC for the occasion and the blessing of the new premises was conducted by Fr Des Hillery, Co-PP/VF, Nenagh Parish.