Some of the most vulnerable groups are losing out on their entitlements because they are not getting the information they need to access them, a conference was told at the weekend.
Ms Leonie Lunny, chief executive of Comhairle, the statutory agency charged with collating and disseminating information on services, said there were "still significant gaps between those who needed information on rights and services and the information itself".
Speaking to The Irish Times before the Kilkenny conference, she said there was a constant need to focus on where these gaps were.
"The constituencies one constantly hears about, who have difficulties getting information about what they are entitled to, what their rights are, are those with disabilities, refugees and asylum-seekers, people living in rural areas and the elderly."
The agency, which was established last year after a merger between the National Social Services Board and the National Rehabilitation Board, received about 320,000 requests for information last year, compared with about 130,000 in 1996.
Most requests are made through one of the 80 citizens' information centres throughout the State. The increase of about 40 per cent per year occurred despite the Government spending "substantial sums each year on disseminating information", a spokesman said.
The requests mostly concern social welfare rights and social services entitlements, said Ms Lunny. "The increase in the number of requests for information is in part, of course, because more resources have gone into the services to get the information out, so they can accommodate more requests."
The reasons why some people weren't getting information were varied, she said.
"It may be people's circumstances. In the case of disability they may be isolated from the information; it may for some (be a case) of just not knowing where to start or indeed what they should be looking for.
"There are certainly people who are not receiving their full entitlements. It's better than it was but we still have to be conscious of targeting the people we know may be missing out."
In its recently launched three-year plan Comhairle proposed a number of means of improving access to information. Among these were one-stop shops, and telephone and web-based social information services, which are being put in place.
