Mr. Ger Deering:

Absolutely, in that regard I was glad to hear that the Senator made the telephone call. We have what I call "old fashioned innovation". We actually answer the telephone and talk to people or we are happy for them to come to the office. Increasingly, people are happy to use the website and the form that is there and to make the complaint that way. Absolutely, however, people can make an appointment and come in to meet us. They can ring us up and we will talk to them. We are having a huge increase in the number of contacts through the office. These are people who are looking to understand what it is we do and whether we can help them or not. Part of that is due to the outreach we are doing. We are doing a lot of outreach. We started this year, in particular, to engage with the public participation networks in each county, that the Senator probably is familiar with. We are engaging with those people. What we want, as politicians are, are champions out in the community who know if someone has a problem, complaint or issue he or she can go to the Ombudsman. Yes, we are happy to take phone calls or have people come to the office itself.