Annual Report 2020
Managing complaints in a pandemic
My Office started 2020 in our new offices on Earlsfort Terrace. We were looking forward to hosting a major international conference. We had planned an ambitious Outreach programme including regular complaint clinics at Citizens Information Centres in Cork, Galway and Limerick, a major regional visit and visits to Direct Provision accommodation centres.
As with every other organisation, we had to change our plans drastically when the first restrictions resulting from the COVID pandemic occurred.
Read the Ombudsman Annual Report 2020Government Departments and Offices
Of the 1,206 complaints made about Government Departments and Offices, 735 were about the Department of Social Protection (131 of which concerned COVID-19 related payments), 163 about the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, 99 about the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, and 68 about the Department of Education. A detailed breakdown is contained in Tables 6 to 6(c) of the Appendix.