Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Chair. We meet again. I look forward to these reports. Many of these things are normally depressing. When I was reading the outcomes I was taken aback when the council refused to reinstate families' correct length of time on a housing list. I was glad that the Office of the Ombudsman had the power to investigate it, and the outcome was the common-sense approach, which I am delighted with.

I do not envy the witnesses' jobs but as any Ombudsman's office, it plays a vital role in keeping people on the right line. I thank the officials for their work.

I have one or two questions. Communication was mentioned. I think it is frustrating for all of us. I refer to human-to-human contact. The Chair even spoke about it as well. Mr. Deering said that he has specific individual cases, whether it is to deal with social welfare or somebody who does not read or write, and they are demanding written letters and stuff. While the individual could be certified as disabled, the Department will not pay that payment because he or she did not tick the box. Could the Office of the Ombudsman investigate there? I cannot physically pick up a phone and talk to a specific case and say this is why X, Y and Z has not been done. Is there a power within the office to pick it up in the same way as the one with the housing scheme or the other one about inadequate care for a woman in a nursing home?

East Cork is famous for whiskey and food but also for flooding. In fairness to the Departments, Cork County Council and the Office of Public Works, they have been amazing but there is a lack of progress in time. Flood protection barriers are going in at certain homes but it is all very messy because it is based on eircodes and so on. In certain estates, the flood protection cannot work because the houses are timber-framed. Families living in these homes have agreed with the farmer who owns the land to have an alternative quick-fix solution put in place but because of planning technicalities involving the OPW and Inland Fisheries Ireland, the council is not willing to engage. It is, however, willing to take a gamble that if we have another one-in-100-year event, which we could get twice in one week, these homes will be gone because they are timber-framed. They would be destroyed because they are vented on the bottom.

If I reported this case to highlight the need for a bit of urgency, could the Office of the Ombudsman do something? I know that it is all about time and money but there is also the issue of taking a common-sense approach. How many times have I said to Mr. Deering, when speaking about certain issues, that the Department appears to be more reactive than proactive? We have the solution - a temporary quick-fix - but we are not going to implement it. God forbid, we get another storm like Storm Babet in the next 12 months because we could have hundreds of families left with no homes. They will be scratching their heads saying, "Jesus, how did this happen?", when they already had a solution. If I were to bring this case to Mr. Deering on behalf of my constituents, is there a way for his office to try to progress it if it had enough information?