Dublin City Council is rolling out more services online through its Citizen Hub, where residents can now apply for social housing and grants, and flag issues such as illegal dumping, dog fouling and noisy neighbours.
“It’s all about choice, so people have choice and we are trying to provide a good quality service no matter how people get there,” said Pauline Tracey, an assistant ICT manager with Dublin City Council, on 19 March.
The council will look at what comes in and use the data to drive better service delivery too, said Tracey, in a presentation to councillors on the North West Area Committee.
That’s good, said councillors on the committee. But, some also asked, what about Dublin residents who aren’t so handy online and so could be left isolated and left behind by the digital shift?
Tracey said that isn’t an issue. Other routes to council staff are still open, like dropping by or ringing, she said. “The key thing is that it’s not digital-only – like, digital is one channel.”
That hasn’t always been the experience of those seeking out council services, though.
A struggle for some
It’s not that easy to communicate with Dublin City Council through its Citizen Hub, says Denis Murphy, at the Dublin Adult Learning Centre.
He and five of his classmates at the centre on Mountjoy Square are sitting around wooden desks in an L-shape, talking about their experiences accessing council services.
“I can’t see any changes,” says Murphy, who had checked it out again recently. “It’s not easy to use at all.”
Other public services are pushing people to set up digital accounts too, he says. A medical card application can be done online, but he finds it hard to remember all the different passwords and codes, says Murphy.
The MyGovID.ie website is the most challenging, he says, as it took him four tries to verify his account. He finds it all a struggle, says Murphy. “If you didn’t learn it in school you get left behind.”
Says Mags Keena: “I’d rather talk to someone face-to-face, a real person, it’s easier.”
But she worries, she says, that as more services are delivered online, chances for face-to-face contact are fewer.
Other asks
Murphy and Keena both said the council should focus on resourcing and delivering basic services.
They’re council tenants, and responses to maintenance requests are way slower now than they were 10 years ago, says Murphy. “It’s a new way of doing things but it goes nowhere.”
Tweaking communication methods is pointless if the council doesn’t have staff to do essential maintenance work, says Murphy.
Keena says the problem is that some maintenance is contracted out. The lift broke down in her apartment complex recently and several people complained to the council, most by phone, she says.
Council staff said they needed to find a contractor to fix it, she says, but – even in a complex where tenants had mobility issues – it didn’t happen fast. “You could be weeks without the lift,” she says.
At the council meeting, executive manager Darach O’Connor tied the digital transformation to more efficient services.
The council intends to roll out smart technology for outdoor staff, he said, so they can respond faster to problems like illegal dumping. “It’s digital transformation but it is really around providing a better service.”
Working for others
At the meeting on 19 March, some councillors who had tried the hub reported positive experiences.
“It actually works really well,” said Sinn Féin Councillor Anthony Connaghan.
He recently logged a road maintenance issue, he said. When he put in the address, a green pin popped up to show it was already logged, says Connaghan.
“So it’s already reported and it’s up there which I think is good because it saves you the hassle of getting 10 complaints about the same thing,” said Connaghan.
Councillors put forward suggestions for how to make it work better for all.
Social Democrats Councillor Mary Callaghan asked whether the council could make explainer videos.
O’Connor, the executive manager, said that the council is looking at that. And, at making information available in different languages, he said.
Also, other routes like face-to-face and phone, would still be available, Tracey said.
Dubliners looking to access services aren’t always finding that to be the case, though.
In February, Erika Dunne, a mother of a seriously disabled child, who was refused medical priority for social housing, wanted to appeal that.
She was told she could do it in writing, but her email got an automated response telling her to use the Citizen Hub. There was no alternative route offered in the email.
Dunne says she hasn’t heard anything back from her submitted appeal either.
At the 19 March meeting, Tracey said that 87 percent of applications for choice-based lettings were through Citizen Hub.
Choice-based lettings is one way in which the council allocates social homes. People express interest in particular properties, and the council chooses the tenant from among those interested. It means council homes don’t sit empty as long.
But that most choice-based lettings is now done through the hub again raises concerns that the most disadvantaged could miss out.
In 2022, Andrew Connors, long-term homeless with his wife and children, said the system put them at a major disadvantage.
Neither he nor his wife could read or write, he said. “I can’t do it myself, do you get me?” said Connors at the time.
Connors later got help from a housing support worker. But they had been in homeless accommodation for two years by then.
At the North West Area Committee meeting, Tracey, the assistant ICT manager, said that Dublin City Council needs to digitise its services.
According to the public service strategy, Better Public Services, public bodies should aim to get 90 percent of all services accessible online by 2030, she said.
A couple of years ago, all you had to do was enter the municipal buildings, head to the appropriate department, and press a button on the counter. Usually, someone would open a sliding glass window and answer your question immediately.
Now, you have to arrange an appointment over the phone or online and can only have an appointment that suits the timetable of the staff member who deals with your particular matter.
Security personnel are waiting at the reception area while you identify yourself and the person you wish to see. Then, you must wait for someone to see you and discuss your inquiry in the building’s lobby.
I recently heard Councillor Paddy McCarty speak at a meeting about the many people who had expressed dissatisfaction with the service they received.