Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ombudsman and Ms Hanrahan for being with us today and all of their teams for everything they do. One thing which rings true every time I speak to anybody who has had dealings with the Ombudsman is the trust they have in him and his office and team. That is important. Unfortunately, trust sometimes breaks down with different elements of our public service and that is why people end up going to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman put it very eloquently that sometimes his office cannot resolve the issue but can explain it as an independent and impartial person, entity or body. Sometimes that at least alleviates concerns.

The Ombudsman in his last contribution answered one of my key questions. I would like to run through his statement. Local authority issues are high on his agenda. Am I right in making the assumption that there are administrative delays, which probably come back to a resourcing issue?