Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will start off by saying that Mr. Deering has a fantastic staff in the Office of the Ombudsman. There have been two occasions in my life where I had to engage with his office and on one of those occasions the office could not assist me and the official that was dealing with me was fantastic in the way he explained the situation. That is so important when one is under pressure and needs an answer and an answer is not coming through one's office. That is really important.

The other occasion leads to the question I want to ask Mr. Deering. It was a case that went on over a number of years where I simply could not get an answer to a question. I eventually drove to the Department in question, sought to meet the man who was looking after the issue and as I was standing and speaking to the security staff I heard him say over the phone, "Oh Jesus, tell him I am at a meeting.". I said, "Tell him I will be on that chair until he comes out". He came out at 4'o clock in the evening. That was from 10 o'clock in the morning. When he came out he promised me he would reply the following day. He did not so I got onto the Office of the Ombudsman and within a week I had a letter from Mr. Deering's office saying, "I understand the issue has been resolved.". At that stage I knew nothing about the issue being resolved but the following day I received a letter from the Department saying, "We are terribly sorry, we forgot to answer your several letters and we have answered them today." The issue was resolved immediately.

This brings me to a question about when a member of the public is being frustrated to that level - in this case, this went on for seven years - where he or she simply cannot get an answer to a letter. After one letter from the Office of the Ombudsman, however, all of a sudden all of the shutters are lifted and the light shines in and the office gets an immediate answer to its query. For the member of the public that is extremely frustrating while for the Office of the Ombudsman, it is really encouraging to know it has that power. How many cases are closed immediately after the first letter, or is that unusual?