Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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965. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of recent reports of bullying and harassment by departmental inspectors while carrying out on-farm inspections; the number of complaints that have been made concerning such bullying in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35817/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The data requested is set out in the table.

The data set out in the table relates to complaints from farmers received by the Quality Service Unit of my Department as part of my Department’s Customer Service Complaints Procedure. It is important to note that this Customer Service Complaints Procedure concerns complaints regarding customer service; it does not cover requests for reviews or appeals against actual decisions taken in the operation of a scheme or service as these have a separate appeals process.

My Department is committed to providing a user-friendly, high quality service to all farmers. Where it is considered that my Department falls short of this, my Department’s Customer Service Complaints Procedure can be availed of by farmers. Having regard to data protection obligations, specific detail in respect of the complaints referred to in the table above cannot be provided, but in general they involve dissatisfaction with aspects of inspections such as the alleged lack of notice, attitude and conduct of Department staff and methodologies employed.

All complaints received to date have been formally acknowledged and dealt with, or are in the process of being dealt with.

There are three possible steps in the customer service complaints process:

-Complaints should first be directed to the senior officer in charge of the business area within the Department to which the complaint pertains.

-If the complainant is dissatisfied with the response received from the Head of the relevant business area, the complaint can be sent to the Quality Service Unit who will examine any customer service aspect of the complaint. The Quality Service Unit will have the matter fully and impartially investigated by an officer who was not involved in the matter giving rise to the complaint.

- If the complainant remains dissatisfied after steps 1 and 2 above, it is open to the complainant to contact the Office of the Ombudsman.The Office of the Ombudsman examines complaints from people who feel they have been unfairly treated by certain public bodies, for example, Government Departments.