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Ombudsman receives highest number of public service complaints in over 30 years
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5,297 complaints about public services were made to the Ombudsman, Ger Deering, in 2025 - an increase of 11% on the previous year, and the highest number in over 30 years.
Speaking today [7 July 2026] on the publication of his Annual Report for 2025, the Ombudsman said that last year continued the trend of a significant and steady increase in the number of complaints being made to his Office.
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about public bodies including local authorities, government departments and the HSE. His Office investigated 4,996 complaints in 2025 - an increase of 6% on the 2024 figure. The Office also responded to over 9,000 enquiries.
The Ombudsman saw a continued increase in complaints about local authorities - up 20% on the 2024 figure, to 1,793 complaints last year. 248 complaints were made to the Ombudsman about Dublin City Council, while 200 involved Cork City Council in 2025.
1,502 complaints were received about Government Departments and Offices, with the Department of Social Protection being the subject of 686 complaints. There were 861 complaints about public bodies in the Health sector, with 720 involving the HSE and 110 about Tusla.
Because of the increase of complaints about local authorities in recent years, the Ombudsman engaged with the sector to develop a standardised policy and procedure for dealing with complaints from the public.
Ombudsman Ger Deering said:
“The Local Authority Complaints Policy is being rolled out by local authorities during 2026. I am hopeful that its implementation will improve service delivery and complaint handling by local authorities, and so benefit everyone using their services.”
In 2025 the Ombudsman also published his recommendations following his investigation into the Housing Assistance Payment scheme (HAP). The Ombudsman said that while some progress has been made on several of the recommendations, he will continue to engage with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He added that, if fully implemented, the recommendations will see real improvements for those who rely on the scheme.
In 2025 the Ombudsman received complaints about a wide range public services including complaints about social welfare allowances, housing applications, hospital services, private nursing home care and public third-level education services.
The Ombudsman’s Annual Report summarises just some of the complaints dealt with including cases where: individuals were wrongly removed from the housing list; an overseas pension was refused as a government department sent the wrong medical report to the overseas authority; admission to a university course was refused after confusion over the nature of the person’s education qualification; and where issues arose in passport applications.
Contact Information
David Nutley
Head of Communications
Office of the Ombudsman
086 412 0240
david.nutley@ombudsman.ie
6 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2