Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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173. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of staff members at the Financial Services and Pension Ombudsman’s Office allocated to deal with tracker mortgage complaints; if he has plans to increase the staffing levels in this department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36329/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) is an independent, impartial, fair and free service that helps resolve complaints against financial service and pension providers from consumers and small businesses. It plays an important role in the robust financial consumer protection framework that supports consumers of financial services in Ireland.

During 2023, the FSPO received 74 complaints relating to tracker mortgage interest rates. This represents a significant decline from the 139 such complaints received in 2022. It is also significantly lower than in 2020, when the number of tracker mortgage interest rate complaints received peaked, at 492 in the year.

85% of complaints that closed in 2023, were closed within 12 months of the complaint being made. For all complaints that closed in 2023, including tracker mortgage complaints, the average time from receipt of complaint to closure, was 8.6 months.

The FSPO has an insourced tracker team of 12 people. There are no plans to increase the team at present.

In the context of the wider organisation, the FSPO's Workforce Plan 2024-2026 was approved by the Minister for Finance in December 2023. This resulted in an increased sanctioned headcount for the FSPO from 90.2 to 128 staff, a 42% increase in staffing.

This includes increasing the Investigation Service Team from 17.6 to 36, reflecting the increasing demand for services. Other key roles proposed in the plan to address capacity gaps and the increasing demand for services include an additional Deputy Ombudsman, an ICT Chief Information Officer and further roles in areas such as Legal Services, Registration and Assessment, Dispute Resolution Services, Finance, HR, and Customer Service.