Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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357. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of complaints with the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman that have been waiting five years or more for a preliminary decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17106/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) provides an independent, fair, impartial, confidential and free service to resolve complaints for consumers of financial services.

Complaints are resolved through either informal mediation, leading to a potential settlement agreed between the parties, or formal investigation and adjudication, leading to a legally binding decision.

86% of complaints are closed within 12 months, mainly through early-stage processes and mediation. The FSPO has succeeded in reducing the average time to closure of complaints by proactively leveraging these processes.

The number of complaints received by the FSPO in 2024 remained at a high level (6,185

complaints). They closed 5,907 complaints, 14% more complaints than in 2023.

For all complaints that closed in 2024, including tracker mortgage complaints, the average time from receipt of complaint to closure was 8.4 months. For non-tracker mortgage complaints that closed in 2024, the average time from receipt to closure was 7.2 months.

Certain more complex complaints, including those requiring a formal adjudication take longer to resolve. This reflects the fact that adjudications by the Ombudsman are legally binding. Accordingly, it is important that every decision arrived at has followed due process and allowed both parties to make submissions and offer observations on the evidence and on the other party’s submissions, as appropriate.

The process whereby each party can make observations on the other party’s submissions continues until both parties are satisfied that they have nothing further to add.

As of 7 April 2025, there are 500 complaints currently active that were received before 07/04/2020 and have not received a preliminary decision.

By way of example, some of the reasons that contribute to the timeline for all processes, but particularly the formal investigation process, include:

• The volume of ongoing submissions from the parties addressing the evidence under consideration during a complaint investigation.
• The requirement for a formal jurisdictional determination, separate from the investigation of the merits of the complaint made, for instance, if the time limits are at issue, or are challenged by one of the parties.
• The need to place complaints on hold for a period, because of litigation which has not yet concluded, where it is appropriate to pause the investigation of certain other complaints, because the outcome is likely to have an impact on those other complaints.
• The need to place complaints on hold for a period, at the request of the complainant. This may be for a number of reasons, including reasons of personal circumstance or their wish to seek independent legal or financial advice prior to proceeding in our process, or the need to procure the consent/signature of a joint owner of the account or policy.

A file may reopen for a variety of reasons, including a request from a complainant for the FSPO to reconsider its jurisdiction, because of the change in statutory time limits.