A National Advocacy Service for people with disabilities has been launched in Ireland to work with vulnerable people with disabilities in institutions and in the community. It will aims to provide a professional, independent, mainstream representative advocacy service to those people with a disability that require such a service. The service, which was launched by Ireland’s new Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, will be available in five Citizens Information Services in five regions across the county, in an attempt to ensure that it is accessible to all potential users. The service will assist people with disabilities by providing an independent guide to services and options, someone to assist them at official proceedings and, in some instances, through the move to living in the community. A trained independent person who, on the basis of understanding a client’s needs and wishes, will advise and support that client to make a decision or claim an entitlement and who will, if appropriate, go on to negotiate or make a case for them.