In 2023, 397,605 callers were assisted by Citizens Information Services (CISs) nationwide — an increase of 0.8% on 2022. These callers had over 795,278 queries, a similar increase on 2022 query levels.

The average number of callers per month nationally for 2023 was 33,134, up from 32,867 in 2022. January had the highest number of callers (37,776) and quarter one was the busiest quarter with 107,403 callers (27% of the calls in 2023).

Country of Origin was recorded for 62% of callers (245,954) in 2023. 24% of callers' country of origin was outside Ireland (59,119). Callers from Ireland accounted for 76% of callers (186,835). Callers from Poland (8,385) and Ukraine (6,141) were the highest groups whose country of origin was outside Ireland.

Non-EU callers continue to increase, accounting for 15.17% of callers to CISs — a 12.4% increase between 2022 and 2023 (to 37,307 callers). EU callers also grew, by 14% to 21,812 callers.

There were 795,278 queries to CISs in 2023 — a slight increase of 0.8% on the previous year. In 2023 the query/caller ratio was 2.00, the same as 2022.

The document below contains the five highest query categories: Social Welfare, Housing, Health, Money and Tax and Employment, with query numbers, trends, and caller profile details.

Query Categories 2023 (Word document)
Query Categories 2023 (PDF)

Social Welfare Queries

Social Welfare was the highest query category, representing 46.8% (372,085 queries). Extra Social Welfare Benefits was the most queried sub-category (63,144 queries), 17% of all SW queries. Schemes and payments in this category saw a drop of 10.4% on 2022 levels.

Fuel Allowance dropped by 16.6% and the Household Benefits Package by 9.6%.

Disability & illness payment queries remained at a similar level to 2022; disability allowance queries increased 10.2%, illness benefit queries decreased 9%.

Queries relating to payments for older people increased by 13%. State pension contributory queries increased 9.1%, and non-contributory 9.6%.

Carer's queries decreased slightly by 1.7%. Half-rate carer's allowance increased 49.8%, having been added to the CIS system in Q4 2021, and has seen steady growth.

Housing Queries

85,447 Housing queries were dealt with in 2023, an increase of 13.3% on the previous year — almost at pre-COVID levels. Over 50% related to Local Authority and Social Housing. Housing grants and schemes increased by 19% and home energy grants more than doubled between 2022 and 2023.

Renting a Home (Private Rental Accommodation) queries increased 3.6%, and Buying a Home increased 24.2% (2,323 queries).

Health Queries

Health service queries increased overall by 2.6%. Queries about GP services increased 19.1%, and fair deal & home care package enquiries increased 13.2%.

Other Queries

Money and Tax queries increased by 15.8% on the previous year. Income Tax Credits and Reliefs increased 20.4%, Income Tax 10.4%, and Revenue Online 31.8% (with staff assisting on digital literacy and access).

Employment related queries (47,288) dropped by 4.8%. Leave and holiday queries continued to fall (down 41% in 2023), while queries about sick leave and sick pay schemes more than doubled, reflecting the new statutory sick pay scheme.

Moving country queries (37,367) decreased by nearly 11%. Irish citizenship queries increased 5.4% and Visas 18.3%, while asylum seeker/refugee – Ukrainian queries fell 73.5% as circumstances settled.

Justice queries (20,061) increased by 9.5%, and Travel and Recreation queries decreased by 11.8% (motoring down 13.2%, passports down 16.8%).

28.4% of all queries in 2023 were related to the Top 10 entitlements.

Quarterly reports for 2023 can be accessed on the CIS Data Hub.

The document below contains the five highest query categories — Social Welfare, Housing, Health, Employment and Moving Country — and shows the number of queries relating to the various schemes, payments and entitlements in each sub-category in 2023.

Query Categories 2023 (Word document)
Query Categories 2023 (PDF)