Ombudsman says Irish Water should be under his remit

The Ombudsman Peter Tyndall has called for Irish Water and other utilities to be brought within his remit.

In a speech today, Mr Tyndall said companies such as Irish Water provided services that were once, but no longer, within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman.

He said he believed utilities such as post, electricity,gas, public transport and telecoms should come within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman “ to offer a one-stop shop approach to redress for public services”.

“I was pleased when the Minister brought Irish Water within the freedom of information regime,” he added. “It would be good to also see complaints back in the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.”

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 Tyndall has previously said this “shouldn’t have happened” and as a result citizens with complaints had no opportunity for redress.

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

Mr Tyndall expressed concern about the trend when publishing his annual report during the summer but he noted that the number of complaints received in the first five months of the year was up 10 per cent.

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.