Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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109. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of determinations that were made by the Pensions Ombudsman; the number of these that were appealed; the number of these appeals that were successful; the total legal cost of these appeals over the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42849/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Office of the Pensions Ombudsman is an independent agency under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection. The Pensions Ombudsman is an independent statutory officer who was appointed in 2003.

Over the ten years of its existence, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman has received 10,000 queries and opened over 5,000 detailed complaint files in relation to occupational pension matters. The vast majority of these have been settled by informal intervention by the Office and have not gone to determination. Full details and statistics are available in the annual reports published by the Pensions Ombudsman.

I understand that there have been 611 determinations made by the Pensions Ombudsman since the establishment of his Office in 2003. To date, there have been 9 appeals against determinations of the Pensions Ombudsman and none of these appeals have been successful. Five determinations are currently the subject of High Court proceedings. I further understand that the total legal costs of the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman over the past five years was just under €349,000, which includes the cost of prosecutions taken by the Office against persons failing to furnish information. Legal costs have been awarded to the Pensions Ombudsman in all successful cases and are remitted directly to the State.

The Pensions Ombudsman is independent and impartial in the exercise of his statutory functions. The services of the Pensions Ombudsman are free and available to everyone.