Ms MaryRose McGovern:

As the ombudsman said, our primary concern is that when people have an unresolved complaint about a financial service or pension provider that they know where to go and there is that regulatory obligation to ensure they are pointed in the right direction. Over and above that, we also want there to be a general awareness among the public that this organisation exists and have some sort of idea as to what it does. We undertook a consumer awareness survey in 2022. We were somewhat happy with the overall awareness level of 20%. In other words, if you stopped people on the street and asked them about the various ombudsmen, approximately 20% would be aware of our organisation and what it does.

Having said that, we have an outreach programme because we are conscious of certain demographics we would like to target. Last year, for example, we attended the ploughing championships and I attended the senior money event in Limerick. When you take part in an event like that, it enables you to reach out to a certain demographic and try to get an understanding of the sort of issues that are on their minds. It also, in that instance, gave me an opportunity to have a chat on Live 95 and maybe reach out to those 50,000 to 60,000 people who it is hoped have the radio on in the background.

This year, we are visiting the Tullamore Show and we are also going to visit the Jobs Expo with a view to targeting that younger demographic. We also make use of our social media policy because it is a very cost-effective way to reach out and send certain messages to that wider public.