Ombudsman publishes report

More than 350 complaints were made about public services in Cork last year including UCC, Cork City Council and Cork County Council.

Speaking at the publication of his annual report for 2018 the Ombudsman this week, Peter Tyndall said that his Office received more than 3,300 complaints about public services last year, an 11 per cent increase. 357 of these complaints came from people in Cork.

72 complaints were made about Cork City Council, while the Ombudsman received 59 about Cork County Council, while UCC was the subject of four complaints. A statement from Cork County Council said: “The press release issued by the Ombudsman states that 59 complaints were received in respect of Cork County Council in 2018. The Ombudsman decided that 36 of these complaints did not warrant further investigation.

“The Ombudsman opened a file with Cork County Council in respect of 23 complaints, 19 were closed by the Ombudsman as 'not upheld', one was closed (as) 'resolved' and one was closed (as) 'upheld', this equates to just 1.7 per cent of the total of complaints received. A decision is still pending from the Ombudsman in respect of two complaints.”

No one from UCC or Cork City Council responded to a request for comment.

According to the 2018 report about Cork City Council:

Received - 59

Upheld - 13

Partially upheld - 1

Assistance provided - 10

Discontinued/withdrawn - 9

Discontinued premature - 28

Not upheld - 10

Completed total - 57

According to the 2018 report about UCC and its complaints:

 

Discontinued premature - 2

Outside remit - 3

Completed total - 5

The full report can be found at ombudsman.ie.