Citizens Information bus heads off around county

CHANGES to Old Age Pension entitlements, the household benefits package, support to start up a business, and returning to work or education were among issues raised by members of the public who came on board the Citizens Information bus for information and advice during a recent Entitlements Awareness Week in County Wicklow.

Almost 100 people visited the bus, where staff from Bray Citizens Informa- tion and Bray Area Partnership’s Local Employment Service were on board to answer more than 150 different queries on areas such as rights and entitlements and supports available to return to education or training.

The bus visited a number of north Wicklow locations, bringing a mobile information service into the heart of local communities in areas such as Greystones, Kilcoole, Newtownmountkennedy, Kilmacanogue and Bray.

Martina Cronin, Development Manager at County Wicklow Citizens Information Service, said: ‘ This year there was a huge variety of topics people needed information on - some fairly straightforward queries and others involving referral on to other specialist organisations such as MABS, Bray Adult Guidance Service and Bray Area Partnership’s Warmer Homes scheme.’

Mary O’Carolan from Bray Area Part- nership’s Local Employment Service said ‘It’s assumed most people are now aware of all the organisations in their areas and the services each provides, and that everyone is able to look up information online.

‘Whenever we do outreach we find for a lot of people this isn’t the case and people are often confused about their entitlements or the options available to them to access, for example, education and training.’