Departmental Data

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Questions (1119)

Mattie McGrath

Question:

1119. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of complaints submitted to his Department in 2017, 2018 and to date in 2019; the number of appeals made with respect to the outcome of such complaints; the number referred to the Office of the Ombudsman; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13789/19]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport

The information requested by the Deputy is currently being collated by my officials and will be forwarded to the Deputy within 10 working days.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A

I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 1119 for answer on 26 March 2019. Please see the following table in this regard.

Year	Number of complaints	Number of appeals	Referred to Ombudsman
2017	33	0	0
2018	32	0	1
2019	3	0	0
Total	68	0	1

We aim to deliver the best possible service to all customers. Complaints can be made in person, by telephone, in writing or by email. We define complaints as dissatisfaction concerning the provision of a service or services by the Department and we have a Code for Dealing with Complaints in our Customer Service Action Plan, which is available on the Department’s website.

Areas that are excluded from the complaints procedure are:

- Complaints related to agencies under the remit of the Department;

- Complaints relating to another Department, Minister or agency under the remit of another Department;

- Appeals against decisions taken in the operation of the Sports Capital Programme or Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme;

- Complaints referring to Section 38 of the Disability Act.;

- Matters which are the subject of litigation;

- Matters referred to the Ombudsman; and

- Freedom of Information (FOI) or Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) requests or appeals which have separate processes.

My Department is fully committed to delivering the highest quality of service and equality of treatment to all our customers and it's Customer Charter 2017-2019 is informed by the 12 Guiding Principles of Quality Customer Service (QCS) which can be found at: https://www.per.gov.ie/en/qcs-initiative/