A retired garda has been awarded pension arrears of over €32,000 by the Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, after she found he had been given wrong information by the Department of Social and Family affairs regarding his entitlements.
The case is one of three published by Ms O'Reilly today in order to raise the profile of her office and increase public awareness of its services. The other cases relate to a complaint about nursing home subventions, and unfair treatment in relation to an appeal against a planning application.
The retired garda from Co Cork complained to the ombudsman that he had been given incorrect information about his entitlement to a State pension. He was told on two occasions by the Department of Social and Family affairs that he had made sufficient payments to qualify for the reduced rate Old Age Contributory Pension.
On retirement at age 65 he applied for the pension and was then told he had not made sufficient contributions. He appealed to the department but was refused the pension.
Ms O'Reilly ruled that he had been misled by the department and that there was a case for awarding him the pension on this basis. The department agreed to pay the pension and arrears.
A woman living in Dublin city was awarded €1,000 in compensation from Dublin City Council when it failed to inform her it had granted permission for an extension to her neighbour's house.
The woman had objected to the planning permission and so was entitled to be informed of the council's decision, so she would have an opportunity to appeal. However, the council failed to contact her before the statutory time limit for appeal expired. The council apologised but offered no compensation.
Ms O'Reilly said she regarded the case as "maladministration", which should normally lead to the payment of compensation.
"I would like to see local authorities take the initiative by offering redress rather than wait for my office to prompt them following the receipt of a complaint of this type," she said
In another case a Co Dublin man complained that the Health Service Executive had unfairly refused to pay a nursing home subvention for his wife, who had Alzheimer's disease.
Ms O'Reilly found that the application had been unfairly assessed and the HSE agreed to pay arrears of €5,506 and awarded the woman a contract bed in a nursing home.
A spokesman for Ms O'Reilly said the cases were being published outside the annual report, normally published in April, to increase the profile of the office, which investigates complaints by people who feel they have been unfairly treated by public bodies.
The ombudsman was concerned that despite the increase in population, there was no increase in the number of people using the service.
"This is being done in an effort to raise the profile of the office. We're looking to develop a better communication strategy with the public by highlighting some of the areas we deal with," he said.
