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1994 Annual Report Press Release (15/6/95)

1994 Annual Report Press Release (15/6/95)

Press Release

15th June 1995, 11am

Annual Report of the Ombudsman 1994

In his first Annual Report, the Ombudsman Kevin Murphy reports on the year's work, he reflects on what lies ahead for the Office and emphasises that, as well as resolving individual complaints, he hopes to contribute to improving standards in the public service. The Ombudsman says that many of the cases outlined in his Report highlight the failure by public bodies to observe basic tenets of good administration, particularly in using discretionary powers. He deals with the standards of good administration which the citizen has a right to expect from the public service.

The Office received 3,160 complaints in 1994, a figure comparable to previous years. Of this total, 671 (over 21%) were outside his jurisdiction; Kevin Murphy says that this indicates a need to address the question of the remit of the Ombudsman as well as a need to increase public awareness of the role of the Office.

Almost half (48%) of the complaints dealt with during the year concerned the Civil Service and over half of these (54%) involved the Department of Social Welfare. Complaints against Local Authorities continued to rise during 1994, amounting to 23% of the total handled, while 14% of the complaints involved Health Boards. Telecom Éireann and An Post were responsible for 15% and 3%, respectively, of the total number of complaints dealt with during the year.

Of the 2,321 complaints finalised in the year, 414 were resolved in favour of the complainant, while in 580 complaints assistance of one form or another was provided. In 43% of cases, therefore, the Ombudsman was able to be of help to the complainant. The number not upheld was 914, a further 355 were discontinued and 58 were withdrawn by the complainant.

Kevin Murphy says that in future Reports he will name individual Local Authorities and Health Boards in case summaries. Up to now, unlike the other organisations whose work he examines, these bodies were not named. In future, all bodies complained of will be clearly identified, save where there may be a need to ensure that the identity of the complainant is protected. In one case in the Report, he expresses concern about delays in getting adequate responses in relation to complaints from a Local Authority and in another case he says there was a lack of appreciation of the functions of the Ombudsman on the part of the Local Authority concerned.

Individual complaints which arose during the year included:

o A case of a widow who did not claim a Contributory Widow's Pension on the advice of a Department of Social Welfare official; she was subsequently granted the pension but the Department refused to pay her arrears. Following the Ombudsman's intervention, she was paid arrears of over �12,000 together with compensation for delayed payment of over �2,300. The Ombudsman stresses the necessity to explain decisions clearly and to advise people of all avenues of appeal, including the existence of the Office of the Ombudsman.

o A five year delay on the part of the Department of Education in paying a grant for building work to a school. While the grant was paid shortly after his intervention, the Ombudsman advised the Department that it was totally unacceptable that a grant claimed in 1989 had still not been paid in 1994.

o A complaint against the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry concerning Export Refunds which resulted in payments of over �25,000 to the complainant company.

o An error on the part of a Local Authority led to a grave space being wrongly allocated. The Local Authority offered the complainant an alternative space and a sum of �100 for the inconvenience caused. The Ombudsman found that the Local Authority's offer was reasonable in the circumstances.

o A seven year delay by a Local Authority in housing a single man who was living in substandard accommodation. When the Ombudsman pointed out that the man had not been awarded the correct priority under the scheme of letting priorities, the Local Authority agreed to re-house him. Examination of this case was not helped by delays and difficulties experienced in securing adequate responses from the Local Authority.

o A case involving the Revenue Commissioners and the application of Withholding Tax legislation led to substantial savings for the complainant company.

Kevin Murphy welcomes the extension to the powers and remit of the Ombudsman envisaged in the Government's policy document "A Government of Renewal". He believes that the public should be entitled to assume that a public service body is subject to the Ombudsman's remit unless it comes within a small category of bodies whose work is specifically excluded. He also welcomes the proposed Administrative Procedures Act, the aim of which is to ensure compliance with the tenets of good public administration.

The Ombudsman notes that the impending freedom of information legislation will have far-reaching consequences for the ability of the public to gain access to information on which administrative decisions are based and for the way in which public servants do their work . Kevin Murphy points to the experience of the Office in dealing with complaints about the operation of the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations. He highlights shortcomings in the Regulations and emphasises the importance of fostering a culture among public servants which is favourable to freedom of information. One investigation carried out by the Office of the Ombudsman concerned the refusal of a Local Authority to release information about monitoring of drinking water; the Ombudsman found in favour of the complainant in this case and his recommendation that the information be released was accepted by the Local Authority.

The Ombudsman says that in the future, aside from his Annual Report, he will issue individual reports on cases which he considers to be of particular importance. To help in the circulation of this Annual Report, it is available on computer diskette. Kevin Murphy has also published the Report on the World Wide Web, with the assistance of the Department of Library and Information Studies and the Computer Services Centre of University College Dublin.

Agriculture add-in ->

Environment/Local Authority add-in ->

Revenue Commissioners add-in ->

Social Welfare/Health Boards add-in ->