Mr. Ger Deering:

No, it is not unusual. We have a category we call non-response to correspondence. In the normal course of events we would want a complainant to go to the body, make the complaint, sometimes there is an appeal and they can do that, and only then would we normally deal with the complaint. We have a separate stream or category for non-response to complaints. Sadly, there are a good number of them. Neither of my colleagues has figures to hand but the answer is that there are too many of them. It is one of the reasons we have put together the model complaints handling system for the local authorities because we find a large percentage of non-response to correspondence or requests complaints are related to local authorities. I am glad the Senator had a good experience and I agree with him. I acknowledge the staff of the Office of the Ombudsman, who are very committed in what they do. It is very easy for me to come here and talk about what we do when those staff do what they do. A wonderful culture has been built up over the 40 years. We expect people to give a reasonable time for a response - and the Senator outlined an unreasonable timescale there - but if people cannot get a response from a body they can come to the Office of the Ombudsman.