Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

For what it is worth, my experience dealing with the FSPO and other ombudsmen has generally been that it takes one letter from the ombudsman for people to realise they have to sit down and talk to each other to resolve problems. For that, I am extremely grateful. I am mindful of one pensioner, back in the 1970s, who retired on a pension of £15 a month. A year later, his colleague retired with a lump sum of approximately £100 a week, and this man felt he was hard done by. After 15 years of writing to the trustees of the pension scheme, they apologised and said they had underpaid him by 25 pence a month. The scheme repaid him approximately £17. If the ombudsman had been around back then, we might have had a different outcome. I thank the organisation for its service to the country and for the way in which it deals with people who are in distress.