THE SERVICES of the office of Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly have never been in greater demand. The 3,727 public complaints the office received last year was a record number – almost one-third higher than in 2009. This is hardly surprising given the scale of the economic downturn. Soaring unemployment has left many more people dependent on the State for welfare benefits and for other public services.
These, in some instances, have been poorly administered and badly delivered by the relevant public bodies. And the large number of public complaints only serves to underline, as Ms O’Reilly says, the challenge to raise standards of public service across the board.
Almost half the complaints against public bodies involve the Civil Service, with the Department of Social Protection accounting for most of these. More than a quarter concern the Health Service Executive.
The Ombudsman’s role is to represent the public’s interest by investigating and addressing complaints. To do so effectively requires a positive, prompt and co-operative response from government departments and public bodies. That means a full recognition and acceptance of the Ombudsman’s important role in the complaints procedure. In that regard, Ms O’Reilly’s office has taken the unusual step of publicly naming and shaming five government departments and six local authorities which have refused to facilitate referrals of disgruntled complainants to the Ombudsman’s office for assistance. Despite repeated requests to do so, these departments and local authorities have not advised complainants of their right of recourse to the complaint resolution services of the office.
However, one area of significant improvement in relations has been the more rapid response by public bodies to investigations conducted by the Ombudsman. In 2001, the office issued 19 statutory requests for information from a public servant or public body where excessive delay had occurred. But by last year the number of requests had dropped to eight.
Since its establishment in 1984, the Ombudsman’s office has handled more than 76,000 valid complaints and, under the Government’s programme for national recovery, its remit will be extended to include all publicly funded bodies. Both that and a planned new Oireachtas committee, which will facilitate communications between the Ombudsman and the Oireachtas, should ensure the office and its special reports receive the public attention and debate they deserve.