Back-
Ireland Annual Report
Complaints to the Ombudsman rose by 9% to 3,664 in 2019. It is the highest number of complaints received by the Ombudsman since 2010. Ombudsman Peter Tyndall examines complaints about public services, such as those provided by government departments, local authorities and the HSE. In his annual report for 2019, the Ombudsman said his Office saw increases in complaints about almost all sectors it deals with.
Dissatisfaction about housing saw complaints about local authorities rise by 12.6% between 2018 and 2019. Complaints about the education sector, which includes bodies providing student grants and education grants for people with disabilities, increased by 17% in 2019.
The Ombudsman continues to see significant numbers of complaints being made to his Office since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been a sharp increase in complaints involving the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. This was largely due to the significant increase in the number of people now interacting with the Department. A number of complaints related to the COVID-19 payment (Pandemic Unemployment Payment). In one case, a man who was eligible for the payment was stranded in Poland and was refused payment when he applied online. The Ombudsman resolved the case within 24 hours and he received his payment.
In his annual report, the Ombudsman highlights the long delay in replacing the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant schemes. The Department of Health schemes have been closed to new applicants since 2013. There have been numerous promises to introduce new legislation but without any progress.
The Ombudsman also criticised the lack of action in reforming the eligibility criteria for the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers scheme. The Ombudsman said that the way the criteria are framed results in people being denied admission to the scheme who are equally (but differently) disabled from a mobility point of view to those who have been admitted to it.
CASE STUDIES
The Ombudsman’s annual report also summarises some of the complaints he upheld in 2019 including:
- Confusion over woman’s hospital file (Page 28)
- Registration system could not record location of woman’s home birth (Page 29)
- Council incorrectly reduced grant to elderly man (Page 30)
- Council refused to pay €28,000 interest on builder’s bonds (Page 31)
- Woman receives arrears of almost €20,000 after delay in awarding social welfare payment (Page 36)
Source: Office of the Ombudsman, Ireland
