The Ombudsman, Mr Kevin Murphy, identified local authorities as the public services sector in greatest need of reform in his annual report for 2002 published today.
The outgoing ombudsman said local authorities were his greatest area of concern, although he added that for many, a lack of resources was contributing to substandard services.
The key areas of complaint concerning local authorities were unfinished developments and unauthorised developments. Mr Murphy said he hoped many areas of complaint relating to this area would be resolved by the Planning and Development Act of 2000.
Mr Murphy said many local authorities needed to bring their internal complaints procedures up to scratch. This would prevent complaints that did not fall under the remit of the Ombudsman being submitted to his office, he said.
He gave two examples of local authorities - Offaly Co Council and Wicklow Co Council - that allowed unauthorised developments. "In the absence of effective action by the planning authority, the planning laws could be circumvented and flouted". He said if the law with regard to planning cases was not enforced then the planning Acts would come into disrepute.
Mr Murphy also expressed his disappointment that legislation allowing his office to investigate the voluntary hospitals was still not in place. It has "never seen the light of day", he said.
The annual report also noted an individual complaint which led to redress for a large number of people.
Mr Murphy said several health boards were found to have applied the rules to the administration of the Blind Welfare Allowance in a manner in the which applicants received less than they were entitled to.
As a result almost 700 people would be paid up to €1.5 million under the following the investigation of one complaint. The initial complainant received €4,000 following investigation of the case.
Mr Murphy's last report before retiring as Ombudsman in June saw slight drop in the number of valid complaints at 2,326 compared with the previous year. He said 1,514 complaints were carried over from 2001 - leaving a case load of 3,840 for 2002.
He said 17 per cent of these cases were resolved and that help was provided in over 28 per cent.