WHAT are you rights if you are arrested by a garda? Will your degree be recognised if you go to work in Germany? Is it worthwhile going from being on welfare back to work?
Answers to these and thousands of other questions are now available at the touch of a button through a new computerised citizens information database developed by the National Social Service Board (NSSB). It was introduced yesterday by the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa.
The database, which will be installed in information centres throughout the country, brings together all matters of public interest and concern, including health, social welfare, taxation, labour law, housing, family law, citizenship, consumer rights and rights of citizens within the EU.
Ms Leonie Lunny, director of the NSSB, described it as an exciting development that has growth potential in many areas of Irish life.
"The database has the potential to bring together in one accessible location detailed and important information which citizens are entitled to and up to now in many cases had to `root out'," explained Ms Lunny.
The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, said it would "revolutionise the availability of information on entitlements from the State". The system, which is being piloted in a number of citizen information centres and other organisations, has been funded by £350,000 from the Department of Social Welfare. According to Ms Lunny, a further £350,000 will be needed to get the service operational in all the centres, which they hope to achieve by the end of 1998.
The system is easy to use and flexible enough to service a number of information needs, impartially, from getting a birth certificate, to buying a secondhand car or taking your case to the Ombudsman. Currently, the system consists of more than 1,600 documents ranging in size from 1 to 20 pages, integrating information on a range of subjects. Up to now, the information was available on paper.
The database is a common resource for all information providers whether in the statutory or independent sector. It is available through citizen information centres, centres for youth, the unemployed, resource centres and special interest groups such as those working for disabled people.