Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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261. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of complaints made under her Department'’s customer charter against social welfare inspectors in each of the years 2016 to 2020 and to date in 2021; the number of complaints accepted; the number rejected; the number referred to another public authority; and the number referred to An Garda Síochána. [48784/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Social Protection is committed to delivering an excellent customer service as pledged in our Customer Service Charter. My Department always aims to ensure that all customers are served in a fair, courteous and timely manner, are informed of their rights, provided with full and clear information regarding entitlements and have their privacy respected.

All complaints received were accepted by the Department and fully investigated.

The total number of complaints made in relation to the Department's Social Welfare Inspectors is provided in tabular form for each of the respective years 2016 to 2020 and to date in 2021 – accurate as of Monday, 4th of October 2021.

The number of complaints received should be viewed in the context of the overall number of cases examined annually by the Inspectorate. Since the start of 2019 to the end of September 2021 a total of 378,544 cases have been examined and over the same period a total of 62 complaints have been made concerning the Department's Social Welfare inspectors.

There are no cases relating to complaints regarding Social Welfare Inspectors that have been referred to another public authority or an Garda Síochána by my Department.