We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT PUBLIC services to the Ombudsman Peter Tyndall rose by almost 10% in 2019, according to his annual report for last year.
The report, published today, shows that the Ombudsman received more than 3,600 complaints about public services last year, up from more than 3,300 in 2018.
The largest number of complaints was in relation to services provided by government departments (1,186 complaints).
This was followed by complaints about local authorities (990 complaints), the health and social care sector (708 complaints), and the education sector (219 complaints).
The Ombudsman investigates complaints from the public about almost all providers of public services as well as third-level education bodies, private nursing homes and direct provision services.
Late grant application
In one case study in today’s report, a student from Waterford contacted the Ombudsman when Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) refused to accept his late application for a 2018/19 Higher Education Grant.
The student was living with his stepfather at the time and applied as a dependant of his stepfather through SUSI’s online application process. He had technical difficulties completing his application, which was quickly resolved.
However, the student believed he needed the details of his stepfather’s income and information relating to the death of his mother, who had passed away two years previously, to complete the application.
The Ombudsman noted that his mother’s death had been particularly traumatic for the student, and that he had become estranged from his stepfather and could not get the details he thought he needed.
In addition, the student had dyspraxia and depression, and was recovering from operations relating to a tumour on his spinal cord. As a result, he was two months late with his application.
He asked SUSI to accept his late application and pointed to the difficult circumstances he had found himself in as the reason for the delay, but was initially refused.
However, the Ombudsman considered that SUSI should use its discretionary powers to grant the late application, and the body later agreed to do this following the finding.
‘Insulting’ tweet
In another case, a social housing tenant complained to the Ombudsman when Cork County Council said he had breached his tenancy agreement with the local authority.
The council said the tenant had used abusive and insulting language in a tweet that he had sent about a court case involving the owner of a neighbouring property, and that he had published a photo of the owner, without her consent, on a blog.
The tenant explained that the tweet was factual, and that he did not publish the photo. He said that he wanted the allegations removed from his tenancy record.
In response to the Ombudsman, the local authority said there were a number of issues between the tenant and the property owner, including a court case that the tenant had lost.
Following the outcome of the court case, it said, the tenant included a link to details of a different case involving the owner in his tweet and it had received a complaint about him publishing the woman’s picture in his blog alongside details of the court case.
The Ombudsman discovered that the allegations concerning the tweet and the blog had not been put to the tenant in order to allow him to respond before the council decided he had breached his tenancy agreement.
In addition, the council was found to not have a social media policy for its tenants, so the Ombudsman found that the reference to the tweet in the tenancy notification letter was unfair.
It was further discovered that the blog was not run by tenant, and it was unreasonable for the council to assume that he was responsible for the publication of the photograph.
The council ultimately agreed to remove the allegations from the tenant’s record, and also said it would consider the introduction of a social media policy.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Bottom of the barrel stuff there. Should be a lesson to anyone , going on social media to complain about someone and posting their private details. Cowardly . Our dead ancestors if they could see us now they’d knock some sense into us.
@Martin McFly: if we could only go back to the future Marty hey !!!!
@Martin McFly:
“The problem with internet quotes is that you cannot always depend on their accuracy.”
Abraham Lincoln 1864
@John kavanagh: dead right John. This clown can only “Win or Learn” sadly he’s the type the will do neither
@Martin McFly: By bottom of the barrel you are talking about legitimate complaints which ruled in their favour, in both cases. I hope your comment doesn’t put off other people from rightly making complaints. However the complaint you have a particular problem with will help the council get it right ie, put that social media side of it into future agreements, although i think that could be challenged. What right has the housing authority to tell people what they can and cannot say online when it is legal for them to do so etc. etc
@Marie Broomfield: unless its defamatory, then it’s not legal to say it online
@Marie Broomfield: if I tweeted about my neighbours, shortly after I’d turn around and slap myself. He should be made strip infront of the entire village and laughed at.
Whether in the agreement or npt this behavior isn’t acceptable anyway and isn’t allowed on a personal level so I don’t see why he got away with it. Personal lines were crossed regardless.
@Lydia McLoughlin: They “get away ” with it because they can.
Late grant application – Does no one have common sense any more? A quick chat with the student and this would have been resolved.
It’s extra care and help that lad needed .hope he’s doing well.
What a waste of money this obudsman is, if this is the best examples they can come up with.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say