Almost one in three valid complaints received by the Ombudsman last year were against the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. The 1,007 complaints against the Department showed an increase of 35 per cent on 1996. A further 625 complaints were made against other Government departments last year.
Most complained of was the clawing back of invalidity pension payments to several hundred people. The complaints arose from the Department's decision to recover an allowance which had been paid for some years with the pension.
Following the intervention of the Ombudsman, the Department undertook a review of its decision. Refunds ranging from £32 to £4,800 were made in 193 cases. The total value of refunds amounted to almost £250,000.
Complaints received last year by the Ombudsman increased by 24 per cent to 3,929. Of these, 803 were outside the office's remit.
Mr Kevin Murphy, who yesterday presented his fourth annual report as Ombudsman, said the increase was due to a greater awareness of the office. But he admitted: "We still don't think we reach as many people as we should".
A recent survey commissioned by the office found that 81 per cent of respondents had heard of the Ombudsman but only 34 per cent knew what he did.
Of the 3,126 complaints received within his jurisdiction, 52.2 per cent dealt with Civil Service departments, 24.3 per cent concerned local authorities, 12.9 per cent involved health boards, 8.4 per cent dealt with Telecom Eireann and 2.2 per cent related to An Post.
Mr Murphy said that while he was satisfied with the powers of the office he was "not particularly happy" with its jurisdiction. He said, for example, voluntary and not just public hospitals should fall within his remit.
He also called for an independent review procedure to be set up, either within his office or elsewhere, to deal with immigrants' complaints.
The Ombudsman will take on the additional role of Information Commissioner next week. The position was created under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, and will be in a separate office. Mr Murphy said he saw the two roles as "very complementary".
A new guide for public bodies on how to set up and operate their own internal complaints systems was also launched yesterday. Settling Complaints: The Ombudsman's Guide to Internal Com plaints Systems stresses the need for independent investigation and the speedy handling of cases.
Mr Murphy said the office felt strongly "that the bodies themselves should be the first to deal with complaints, first to take them seriously and first to solve them."
