Complaints to Ombudsman fall again

Complaints to the Ombudsman’s office fell by 6.5 per cent last year, the second successive yearly drop.

Ombudsman Peter Tyndall expressed concern about the trend while noting that the number of complaints is up 10 per cent so far this year.

Mr Tyndall, who succeeded Emily O’Reilly in the post last December, said he was concerned that some people might not be aware of his office, or are not being told by public bodies about it. It may also be that they tire of the complaints process after protracted interactions with the internal complaints procedures of public bodies.

The office received 3,190 complaints in 2013, down from 3,412 in 2012. The largest number of complaints, 491, was against the Department of Social Protection, followed by 203 complaints against the Department of Agriculture and 68 against the Revenue Commissioners. There were 495 complaints against local authorities and 310 against the HSE.

Mr Tyndall said he was surprised at the relatively low level of health complaints coming in to his office. In other countries, the number of health complaints was rising significantly. “I can’t believe the low number of complaints is because the quality of our healthcare is so much higher than elsewhere.”

Some 150 complaints were made against public bodies newly under the Ombudsman’s remit since May 2013. The biggest number, 105, related to the third-level sector, with 69 complaints against Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi).

Mr Tyndall there was potential for developing his office in several areas. He suggested the extension of his remit to include public services provided by private bodies and the use of the opportunities offered by the European Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Areas such as water provision and waste service were previously under the remit of the Ombudsman but fell out of it when Irish Water was created and bin services were privatised. Mr Tynall said this “shouldn’t have happened” and as a result citizens with complaints had no opportunity for redress.

He also proposed a standardised approach to complaint handling across public service bodies and the development of a single portal for complaints.