Eighty-eight complaints made to Ombudsman
Of the complaints made last year 51 were about Waterford City and County Council. Pictured is Waterford City Hall.
The annual report from the Office of the Ombudsman, Ger Deering, has revealed that 88 complaints were received by the office in 2024 in relation to various issues including accessibility supports for people with disabilities in relation to accessing transport.
In the report, which was published on Wednesday, June 18, Mr Deering welcomed a commitment from the Department of Transport that it's to develop a new scheme to support people with disabilities to access personal transport.
Over the last 13 years the Ombudsman and his two predecessors have highlighted the lack of appropriate supports for people with disabilities since the Mobility Allowance and the Motorised Transport Grant were closed to new applicants. However, Mr Deering said he was "cautiously optimistic that a long-standing injustice is about to be righted”.
He also said he will be closely monitoring progress on the new scheme.
The 88 complaints from County Waterford represented a slight decline on the previous year which saw 96 complaints being lodged. Of the complaints made last year 51 were about Waterford City and County Council and seven complaints were about University Hospital Waterford.
Mr Deering also called on the Government to provide “sustainable and annual funding” to support younger people in nursing homes through the Enhanced Quality of Life Supports (EQLS) scheme and, where appropriate, funding to move to more suitable accommodation.
Following the Ombudsman’s ‘Wasted Lives’ investigation in 2021, the HSE set up an ‘Under 65 programme’ and successfully transitioned over 100 people to more suitable accommodation.
The scheme also improved the lives of those who could not transition out of nursing homes.
However, the HSE has said that there was insufficient funding to continue to assist many of the young people to move to more appropriate accommodation or to continue the EQLS programme.
The Ombudsman said: "It is completely unacceptable that this excellent programme, which brought hope and independence to people with disabilities cannot be delivered because of a lack of funding.” Complaints to Ombudsman up 30% since 2019
The Ombudsman’s annual report for 2024 highlighted the continued increase in complaints about public bodies received which rose by over 30 per cent from 3,664 in 2019 to 4,778 in 2024. The Ombudsman’s team dealt with 4,673 complaints last year - an increase of nearly 5 per cent on the 2023 figure.
Also last year, 1,497 complaints were made to the Ombudsman about local authorities and 1,397 complaints were received about Government Departments and Offices, with the Department of Social Protection being the subject of 604 complaints. There were 887 complaints about public bodies in the Health sector with 705 involving the HSE and 149 about Tusla.
The Ombudsman also highlighted his Outreach programme which saw his office engage with local authority Public Participation Networks across Ireland to raise awareness of the Ombudsman role among local groups, including those in Waterford, Galway, Kilkenny, Offaly, Westmeath and Wicklow during 2024.
