This report sets out to examine the extent and nature of digital exclusion among users of public services in Ireland and to identify how this problem can be addressed, based on the experiences of information, advice and advocacy services, funded and supported by CIB. The research was initiated prior to the advent of the Covid19 pandemic and relates to the impact on CIS clients of the increasing move to online access of public services. The report acknowledges the certain benefits of digital technology in supporting public service delivery. It goes on to look at the evidence from CISs in their policy feedback to CIB which suggests that a significant number of people who are seeking assistance in CISs are encountering barriers in accessing public services online. The report outlines a range considerations in developing policy and associated actions for the continued promotion of digital inclusion and egovernment.

A social policy report that profiles employment rights queries to Citizens Information Services and includes a focus on issues which emerged during the Covid-19 crisis. The report examines the area of employment rights, based on the queries, social policy issues, and advocacy cases over a three year period. The trend over recent years is for an increase in the complexity of employment related concerns. Almost 70,000 queries to services were employment rights-related in 2019 with a 20% increase in social policy employment related issues over the last three years. The main themes explored in the analysis are issues relating to terms of employment, leaving work and changing jobs; and enforcement and redress.

This study investigates the accessibility of online social, financial and public services to older people in Co. Wicklow. It was commissioned by the South Leinster CIS / Wicklow Area in partnership with Co. Wicklow's Older Persons Council and funded by the CIB. Dr Marita O'Brien researched and compiled the report. The research explores older people's engagement with online services, barriers to accessibility and measures to ensure inclusion. It makes a number of recommendations for making online services accessible to older people including enforcing in practice the right to be an off-liner; providing digital skills training, and addressing affordability and security and safety issues where online tasks are delegated to a proxy, family member or friend.