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Annual Report of the Ombudsman 1999

Chapter Five - Statistics

1. Overview of 1999 complaints
Complaints	Numbers
Received in 1999	3,986
Outside Jurisdiction	1,301
Total within Jurisdiction	2,685
Carried forward from 1998	917
Total on hand for 1999	3,602
Completed in 1999	2,603
Carried forward to 2000	999

	Ten Year Trend of Valid Complaints Received - Overview
1990	2727
1991	2603
1992	2637
1993	2419
1994	2489
1995	2250
1996	2536
1997	3126
1998	2876
1999	2685

Total 2,685

5. Civil Service - Valid Complaints in 1999
	Brought forward from 1998	Received in 1999	On hands for 1999
Social, Community and Family Affairs	176	665	841
Agriculture and Food	126	284	410
Education and Science	52	123	175
Revenue	37	132	169
Environment and Local Government	9	29	38
Health and Children	7	34	41
Land Registry	3	17	20
Marine and Natural Resources	12	22	34
Justice, Equality and Law Reform	3	16	19
Enterprise, Trade and Employment	6	5	11
Office of Public Works	5	6	11
Others	26	42	68
Total	462	1375	1837

6. Local Authorities - Valid in 1999
	Brought forward from 1998	Received in 1999	On hands for 1999
Carlow	1	6	7
Cavan	4	5	9
Clare	2	14	16
Cork Corporation*	4	24	28
Cork County*	14	45	59
Donegal	8	18	26
Dublin Corporation	12	72	84
Dún Laoghaire - Rathdown	7	19	26
Fingal	9	31	40
Galway Corporation*	8	23	31
Galway County*	13	29	42
Kerry	5	49	54
Kildare	11	20	31
Kilkenny	3	24	27
Laois*	9	17	26
Leitrim	4	5	9
Limerick Corporation*	7	23	30
Limerick County*	5	18	23
Lonford	2	12	14
Louth	4	15	19
Mayo	18	50	68
Meath	7	14	21
Monaghan	4	4	8
Offaly	2	13	15
Roscommon	4	19	23
Sligo	7	8	15
South Dublin	9	21	30
Tipperary (NR)	4	12	16
Tipperary (SR)	4	13	17
Waterford Corporation*	3	16	19
Waterford County*	3	12	15
Westmeath	6	11	17
Wexford	10	38	48
Wicklow	9	37	46
TOTAL	222	737	959

Complaints received against Borough Corporations, Urban District Councils and Town Commissioners are included in the County figures.

*Monthly CIC visits were made to this County during 1999 and this is likely to have affected the number of complaints received.

7. Health Boards - Valid Complaints in 1999

	Brought forward from 1998	Received in 1999	On hands for 1999
Eastern	32	149	181
Midland	15	29	44
Mid-Western	8	26	34
North Eastern	5	18	23
North Western	6	20	26
South Eastern	14	40	54
Southern	23	45	68
Western	14	60	74
Total	117	387	504

8. Telecom Éireann and An Post - Valid Complaints in 1999

	Brought forward from 1998	Received in 1999	On hands for 1999
Telecom Éireann	96	113	209
An Post	20	73	93
Total	116	186	302

*Telecom Éireann fell outside my remit from 15 July 1999

9. Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs Breakdown by Main Categories of Complaint Received in 1999

Total 665

10. Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Breakdown by Main Categories of Complaint Received in 1999

Total 284

11. Department of Education and Science

Breakdown by Main Categories of Complaint Received in 1999

Total 123

12. Revenue Commissioners

Breakdown by Main Categories of Complaint Received in 1999

Total 132

13. Environment and Local Government

Breakdown by Main Categories of Complaint Received in 1999

Total 29

14. Department of Health and Children

Breakdown by Main Categories of Complaint Received in 1999

Total 34

15. Local Authorities Breakdown by Main Categories of Complaint Received in 1999

Housing			279
	Allocations and Transfers	117
	Loans and Grants	68
	Repairs	62
	Sales	19
	Rents	13
Planning			165
	Enforcement	111
	Administration	54
Delay - Failure to Reply			79
Roads and Traffic			63
Sewerage & Drainage			29
Waste Disposal			20
Service Charges			16
Water Supply			15
Motor Tax & Driver Licence			8
Rates			7
Access to Information on the Environment			7
Acquisition of land/rights			5
Parks/Open Spaces			5
Miscellaneous			39
Total			737

16. Health Boards Breakdown by Main Categories of Complaint Received in 1999

Supplementary Welfare Allowance			130
	Exceptional Needs payment	46
	Rent and Mortgage allowances	22
	Back to school - clothing and footwear allowance	16
	Miscellaneous	46
Health Services (General)			76
	Medical Cards	41
	Drugs, medicines and appliances	9
	Access to medical records	2
	Miscellaneous	24
Hospital Services			51
	Nursing homes/Long Stay	29
	Miscellaneous	22
Cash Payments (other than SWA)			28
Delay / Failure to Reply			23
Provision of Service			15
Childcare / Social Work Services			12
Hospital Charges			11
Dental Services			9
Services for the Elderly - Housing Aid			8
Administration of Superannuation Schemes			8
Miscellaneous			16
Total			387

	17. Valid Complaints Received by County in 1999
Carlow	34
Cavan	36
Clare	60
Cork	247
Donegal	77
Dublin	617
Galway	150
Kerry	173
Kildare	59
Kilkenny	60
Laois	64
Leitrim	26
Limerick	122
Longford	56
Louth	43
Mayo	173
Meath	49
Monaghan	12
Offaly	42
Roscommon	95
Sligo	37
Tipperary	107
Waterford	84
Westmeath	49
Wexford	113
Wicklow	60
Outside Republic	40
TOTAL	2685

18. Analysis of Complaints Completed in 1999

New Result Category introduced in 1999

19. Civil Service - Complaints Completed in 1999

	Resolved	Partially Resolved	Assistance Provided	Discontinued	With-drawn	Not Upheld	Total Completed
Social, Community and Family Affairs	90	36	170	91	4	303	694
Agriculture, Food, Rural Development	29	5	41	36	4	115	230
Education and Science	22	6	19	22	1	48	118
Revenue	18	4	39	25	3	33	122
Environment and Local Government	3		9	3		14	29
Health and Children	4		13	3	1	4	25
Land Registry	7	1	3	1		3	15
Marine and Natural Resources	2	1	9	2	1	5	20
Justice, Equality and Law Reform			4	2		4	10
Enterprise, Trade and Employment	1		1	3		2	7
Office of Public Works	1		3			3	7
Others	4		21	6		14	45
Total	181	53	332	194	14	548	1322

20. Local Authorities - Complaints Completed in 1999

	Resolved	Partially Resolved	Assistance Provided	Discontinued	With-drawn	Not Upheld	Total Completed
Carlow	1		1	4			6
Cavan	2	1	1	1		3	8
Clare	4	1		2	1	2	10
Cork Corporation	4		3	3		4	14
Cork County	10	4	6	8		14	42
Donegal	5	2	3	1	1	3	15
Dublin Corporation	20	2	14	9		17	62
D�n Laoghaire - Rathdown	4		2	2		7	15
Fingal	10	2	4	3	1	8	28
Galway Corporation	6	3	3	2		7	21
Galway County	5		6	9		7	27
Kerry	4	4	5	10		16	39
Kildare	7		7	3			17
Kilkenny	9	1	4	2		1	17
Laois	4	2	5	4		7	22
Leitrim	3			1		2	6
Limerick Corporation	6		3	6	1	5	21
Limerick County	1	2	1	2		8	14
Longford	2	1	2	2		2	9
Louth	2		3	4		1	10
Mayo	12		8	5		15	40
Meath	4		6		1	2	13
Monaghan	1		2	2			5
Offaly	2		2			2	6
Roscommon	3		2	3		3	11
Sligo	4	3	1				8
South Dublin	5		4	3		3	15
Tipperary (NR)	5	1	1	2		2	11
Tipperary (SR)	3	1	2	2		4	12
Waterford Corporation	7	1	4	2		1	15
Waterford County	5		4	2			11
Westmeath	5	1	1	4		3	14
Wexford	11		4	6	2	3	26
Wicklow	13	3	4	5		5	30
TOTAL	189	35	118	114	7	157	620

Complaints received against Borough Corporations, Urban District Councils and Town Commissioners are included in the County figures

21. Health Boards - Complaints Completed in 1999

	Resolved	Partially Resolved	Assistance Provided	Discontinued	With-drawn	Not Upheld	Total Completed
Eastern	11	3	16	11	1	113	155
Midland	8		6	10	2	10	36
Mid- Western	3		3	3	3	6	18
North Eastern	6		3	4		8	21
North Western	1	5	2	1	1	9	19
South Eastern	6	1	6	7	1	12	33
Southern	6	4	15	4	1	22	52
Western	9		18	11	1	11	50
Total	50	13	69	51	10	191	384

22. Telecom �ireann/An Post - Complaints Completed in 1999

	Resolved	Partially Resolved	Assistance Provided	Discontinued	With-drawn	Not Upheld	Total Completed
Telecom �ireann*	40	16	30	11	4	95	196
An Post	18	3	25	3	3	29	81
Total	58	19	55	14	7	124	277

*Telecom �ireann fell outside my remit from 15 July 1999

23. Analysis of Invalid Complaints Received in 1999

Private Companies	344
Banking/Insurance	318
Public Bodies outside remit	195
Pay and Conditions	86
Courts/Garda�	126
Miscellaneous	232
Total	1301

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