Citizens Information

What Citizens Information does

Citizens Information is a statutory Irish public information service operated by the Citizens Information Board, a body established by law in 2000 and headquartered in Dublin. It provides free, impartial information, advice, and advocacy on the social and civil rights of everyone in Ireland, covering 15 topic areas including health, social welfare, employment, money and tax, housing, education, consumer rights, and justice. Service delivery is omni-channel: a content library of approximately 1,400 pages on citizensinformation.ie (available in English and Irish), the Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS) operating Monday to Friday 9am-8pm, and over 240 Citizens Information Centres (CICs) staffed by trained personnel and volunteers across all 26 counties of Ireland.

The underlying technology stack centres on the citizensinformation.ie web platform, instrumented with Google Analytics using anonymised IP addresses, and the AskCI AI chatbot launched in pilot phase in December 2025 and embedded site-wide in May 2026. AskCI uses retrieval-augmented generation: it searches the website corpus, selects the most relevant pages, and uses Microsoft Azure OpenAI services hosted in the North Europe region to produce plain-language responses, with source links displayed for verification. The chatbot supports English, Irish, and other languages.

The business model is public-sector grant funding. Citizens Information does not generate revenue from service users; all services are provided free of charge to citizens with no fees, subscriptions, or login requirements. Funding flows from the Citizens Information Board via Irish government statutory allocation. Angela Black serves as Chief Executive Officer. The strategic posture emphasises impartiality, independence from the government departments whose policies are explained, and integration with the national digital government transformation programme via the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO).

Name

Citizens Information

Legal name

Citizens Information Board

Website

https://citizensinformation.ie

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Citizens Information is Ireland's statutory public information service, providing free, impartial advice on rights and entitlements to all residents via a 1,400-page website, a nationwide phone line, and 240+ physical centres across all 26 counties.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Information and Citizen Advisory Services

NAICS

Public Administration (92)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

City Clerk/Records, Elections & Civic Engagement (BPAIACAB)

Keywords

• Public information services
• Civil rights information
• Social welfare guidance
• Citizen advice services
• Government information portal

Headquarters

HQ city

Dublin

HQ country

Ireland

HQ region

Europe

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Public Sector Funded Service: Citizens Information is a free public service funded by the Citizens Information Board, which is a statutory body. The service provides free, impartial information, advice, and advocacy to all citizens without charge. There is no revenue generation from citizens—the service is government-funded as part of Ireland's eGovernment and public information infrastructure.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Citizens Information, operated by the Citizens Information Board (a statutory body of the Irish government), provides free, impartial information, advice, and advocacy on social and civil rights to people in Ireland. Its core offerings include a comprehensive website (citizensinformation.ie) covering 15 main topic areas such as Health, Social Welfare, Employment, Housing, Money and Tax, and Justice; a nationwide Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS); over 240 physical Citizens Information Centres (CICs); and the AskCI AI-powered chatbot.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AskCI: AI-powered chatbot that helps users find information on public services and entitlements in Ireland using generative artificial intelligence technology
• Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS)

Products and services

• citizensinformation.ie
• AskCI
• Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS)
• Citizens Information Centres (CICs)

Quantifiable outcome

• Comprehensive coverage of 15 main topic areas with 1,400+ pages of information

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025AskCI was developed in collaboration with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) as part of Ireland's digital public service transformation initiative. OGCIO is the government body responsible for digital public services in Ireland.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Service Canada: Federal Canadian delivery channel for information on social programmes, employment, and benefits. Comparable in providing consolidated, plain-language guidance on entitlements across multiple life-event categories, albeit as part of a broader government department.
• USA.gov: The US government's official web portal directing citizens to federal benefits and services. Functionally analogous as a one-stop citizen information layer, although more of a directory than a content-rich advice service.
• myGov (Australia): Australian government single sign-on portal for accessing multiple citizen services. Comparable as a national digital front door for entitlements, but transactional rather than advice-oriented.
• GOV.UK: The UK government's main information portal, publishing authoritative guidance on rights, entitlements and public services. Comparable as a comprehensive national citizen-information destination, though it is operated directly by government rather than an independent statutory body.

Direct peers

• Citizens Advice (UK): The UK statutory network providing free, impartial information, advice and advocacy on rights and entitlements. Closest functional peer to Citizens Information — same mission, similar statutory status, comparable in-person + digital + phone delivery model.
• Advice UK: UK membership body for independent advice organisations, supporting local charities delivering welfare-rights and social-service advice. Closely mirrors the role Citizens Information Centres play within Ireland's civil-society advice ecosystem.

Emerging players

• Code for America: US non-profit building digital tools to modernise access to government benefits and services. Comparable as a civic-tech organisation applying product thinking to entitlement delivery, with similar mission to AskCI's AI-enabled information access.

Regional players

• Gov.ie: The Irish government's own public-information portal. Direct domestic peer in the same jurisdiction, sharing content categories and audience, but operated by government itself rather than by the independent Citizens Information Board.

Others

• The Public Service Commissioner (Office of the Ombudsman, Ireland): Irish statutory office handling complaints about public services. Adjacent peer in the citizen-state interface — Citizens Information frequently directs users to such bodies for redress, making the two complementary parts of Ireland's civic-rights infrastructure.
• European Citizen Action Service (ECAS): Brussels-based non-profit helping EU citizens understand their rights, including free movement and cross-border entitlements. Adjacent peer given Citizens Information's 'Moving Country' content addressing EU/EEA nationals in Ireland.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/citizens-information-board

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Citizens Information