Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 January 2019
1206. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the customer complaints received by his Department in each of the years since 2016; if the complaints are grouped into categories; the nature of the complaints; the resolution of same; and the number progressed to the relevant ombudsman in each of the years since 2016. [1875/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information requested is currently being collated within my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A :
My Department is committed to providing a high quality service to all our customers. On occasion, it receives complaints from members of the public in relation to their interaction with the Department and we welcome these insofar as they may lead to service improvements. My Department considers every complaint received and aims to resolve it within 15 working days, in accordance with our Quality Customer Service Charter, unless there are particular reasons why this cannot be done. The complaints are not grouped into categories and none have progressed to the Office of the Ombudsman.
The number of complaints received in my Department (other than Met Éireann) are set out in the first table below. Since the introduction of GDPR, my Department’s policy in relation to correspondence received in its Quality Customer Service office is to retain emails and letters for no longer than 12 months unless the issue is not resolved within that time. Accordingly, insofar as complaints received directly by the QCS Office are concerned, only 2018 data is available.
|
Year |
No of complaints |
|
2017 |
4 |
|
2018 |
11 |
The following table gives the number of complaints recorded by Met Éireann (a Division of my Department) on its customer service system and refer to a range of issues relating to its high profile service to the public. While there was a significant increase in complaints to Met Éireann in 2018, the extreme weather last year impacted on the number received, as did the introduction of Met Éireann’s new website and app, which would be expected in the early period following the introduction of new services of this kind.
|
Year |
No of complaints |
|
2016 |
107 |
|
2017 |
120 |
|
2018 |
840 |
