Brendan Daly (Fianna Fail)

It is important that this report has reached us so quickly after the end of 2003, because it brings us up to speed with what happened last year. Unfortunately, many reports we receive are very much out of date, and are old news by the time they come before this House and the Dáil. Compliments have been paid already to the Ombudsman and I welcome the report in so far as it goes. It shows that over a ten year period the number of complaints has been fairly static. For example, in 1994 there were 2,487 valid complaints. That number is down slightly this year but it demonstrates that over a ten year period, the number of valid complaints has remained more or less the same. I would have expected that figure to be dramatically lower because public bodies and official organisations must now be fully aware of the office and the necessity to ensure that in their regulations and dealings with the public they are more cautious and caring.

The positive outcome attained in half the number of cases that came before the Ombudsman is welcome and indicates clearly that it is a very useful office which is working effectively and doing the job it is legislated to do. The wide variety of issues covered in the period, including nursing home subventions, disabled persons' grants, housing for the elderly, orthodontic treatment, tax incentives or allowances, expenditure on education etc. indicates clearly the effectiveness of the office and the necessity to give it further support and direction.

In that regard I welcome the indications in the report that the office has been holding regional meetings. When the Department of Social and Family Affairs regionalised its services, it provided more effective and efficient services,which were more easily accessible to the public. I note from the report that the office made a number of visits to some of the regions. I would encourage that and I strongly urge the Ombudsman to establish an office, perhaps in liaison with the Citizens Advice Bureaux, in many major towns.

Much of the work they do would be similar and it might be possible for the Ombudsman's office and the citizens advice offices in various towns to co-operate in providing a regional local service. That is one of the areas, in terms of social welfare in any event, which saw a dramatic improvement in the service and brought about a resolution to many problems at local level that would normally go to appeals officers or other mechanisms. I welcome the effort to regionalise the service and the commitment in the report to the provision of a high quality service and closer co-operation, liaison and dialogue with the bodies and institutions, which is essential because many problems can be resolved at local level by discussion between the local authorities and the Ombudsman's office.

Like previous speakers, I am not surprised at the huge increase in the number of complaints relating to planning; 27% of all the cases last year related to planning issues. There was an increase from 93 cases in 1994 to 185 cases in 2003 relating in the main to planning enforcement. In a recent television documentary, although I did not see the programme in question, certain allegations were made in regard to planning, local authorities and local councils. In that regard, in so far as the party I belong to is concerned, we hold no brief for any individual developer or planner who is flouting the law by not obeying the regulations or conditions laid down in respect of planning.

While some people in my party might have friendships with individual developers, in so far as the Fianna Fáil Party in Clare is concerned, we hold no brief for any developer who is not complying with the conditions and regulations laid down in the statutes. In the view of the Fianna Fáil organisation in my constituency, anyone who flouts the law should be prosecuted and due process engaged in. They should not be allowed to flout the law and engage in practices which are not in accordance with those laid down in the planning regulations.

Many of the complaints we get about planning would not refer to enforcement but it appears there is a real problem about the enforcement of conditions laid down in planning permission applications. That was referred to in the report and it is something about which the Ombudsman has given some advice. I hope the next report will indicate a major improvement in this area because it is not satisfactory that there should be such a large number of complaints about planning.

A number of individual cases were discussed in the report, and I am sure it would not be possible in any report to cover the huge volume of cases dealt with by the Ombudsman, but it is timely that the people in the various bodies carefully examine the reports published since the office was established in 1984 to understand how it is possible that legislation still has not been changed, an issue referred to here on a number of occasions, to minimise the necessity to go through these procedures. Each Department should be given a copy of this report and asked to indicate precisely, within a certain period, how it intends to deal with, for example, cases involving disabled persons' grants, whether somebody has a tax certificate to complete work if it is holding up a job and allowing people in very bad housing conditions to continue to suffer or a homeless person who cannot be dealt with because of some red tape or regulation.

This report should be sent to each Department which should be asked to make a submission to the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, who is in the House, indicating clearly how they are dealing with issues raised by the Ombudsman over a number of years and the reason the legislation has not yet been amended to avoid similar cases happening again. It is welcome that individual cases are resolved but the underlying causes of these and shortcomings in the legislative area need to be dealt with quickly. It is important that when valid cases are raised and solutions found, and those solutions necessitate further legislation, we should be in a position to expedite that process to avoid them occurring in the future.

Overall, I welcome the commitment in the report to streamline the office, modernise its systems, speed up decision making, in so far as it is possible to do so, engage in closer co-operation and dialogue with the various bodies and institutions and to have close co-operation with the children's ombudsman, who was appointed recently. There may be some overlapping but it is necessary to avoid it and duplication of services like these. There should be close liaison and co-operation between both bodies.