CIB in its response to this Department of Health consultation supports the need to strengthen adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector in Ireland and to ensure that a culture of safeguarding is fostered within every service. The policy proposals aim to address a number of shortcomings in adults safeguarding policy and practice to date, including, in particular, the fact that current policy does not apply to much of the health and social care sector. Our submission emphasised the need for a response to adult safeguarding in the broader societal context as well as in the health and social care sector, improving public awareness of adult safeguarding concerns and hearing the voice of service users.

CIB made a submission in response to an invitation from the Courts Service to contribute to a consultation on their new strategy. Provision of information in relation to access to justice and related legal services continues to be an element of the work of CIB-funded services—the Citizens Information Services (CISs), the Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS), the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) and the National Advocacy Service (NAS) for people with disabilities. CIB contributes to the funding of the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) to provide information and advice clinics on legal matters in CISs. CISs received in the region of 40,000 queries in 2023 about justice matters – many relating to access to legal aid and advice — as well as queries related to issues such as separation and divorce, custody and access to children, maintenance, and domestic violence. This submission drew on the kinds of information queries handled by services and emphasised the core principle, that people’s ability to use the courts system to enforce the law is fundamental to their ability to access justice.