Mr. Paul Joyce:

The Ombudsman publishes biannual reviews and publishes an annual report and occasional case studies. On the website, ironically, there is a list of the High Court appeals, but there is no database of decisions broken down by category to give an indication of where there may be problems. Decisions are published from time to time but as case studies, so there is no reliable database in place. This is not the only area with issues of access to social justice; we have pointed out the social welfare appeals office.

To be fair, we have had some engagement with the FSO since the report was published and it is looking at some of the issues. It is considering rejigging its website and improving certain elements of it, but it was not particularly keen on developing a database. Obviously, there is a fair amount of work involved, but given that there are 7,000 to 10,000 complaints a year, people are entitled to guidance as to how to frame a complaint.