Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 24 June 2025

Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen

Engagement with the Office of the Ombudsman

2:00 am

Mr. Ger Deering:

It is a mix of things. We are doing a lot of outreach and work and reaching people we would not have before. There is no doubt about that. There are also many more public services and the population has increased. I do not think it is a worsening of public services. To revert to the question Deputy Andrews asked, if we see a problem in a particular area and then go in and investigate, we stop getting complaints about it, as happened with the treatment abroad scheme. If there are many complaints coming in a particular area, we like to deal with that area and stop those complaints, but then there will be new schemes and areas on which complaints come in. The increase is caused by the extension of public services, the increased population and the outreach work we do. It is all of those aspects.