449 Complaints Made From Cork as Ombudsman Records Highest Number in Over 30 Years

People living in Cork made 449 complaints about public services to the Ombudsman in 2025, as his Office recorded its highest number of complaints in over 30 years.

Publishing his Annual Report for 2025 today (7 July 2026), Ombudsman Ger Deering said last year continued the trend of a significant and steady increase in the number of complaints being made to his Office. A total of 5,297 complaints were received in 2025, an increase of 11% on the previous year.

There were 200 complaints made about Cork City Council and 80 against Cork County Council, while 12 complaints were made about Cork University Hospital and 5 about University College Cork. Some of the complaints received were made through the Ombudsman's monthly complaint clinic in Cork Citizens Information Centre.

The Ombudsman investigates complaints about public bodies including local authorities, government departments and the HSE. His Office investigated 4,996 complaints in 2025, a 6% increase on the 2024 figure, and responded to over 9,000 enquiries.

Complaints about local authorities continued to increase, up 20% on the 2024 figure to 1,793 last year. Dublin City Council was the subject of 248 complaints, while 200 involved Cork City Council, the second highest of any local authority in the country.

A total of 1,502 complaints were received about Government Departments and Offices, with the Department of Social Protection the subject of 686 complaints. There were 861 complaints about public bodies in the health sector, with 720 involving the HSE and 110 about Tusla.

Because of the increase in complaints about local authorities in recent years, the Ombudsman engaged with the sector to develop a standardised policy and procedure for dealing with complaints from the public.

Ger Deering, Ombudsman:

"The Local Authority Complaints Policy is being rolled out by local authorities during 2026. I am hopeful that its implementation will improve service delivery and complaint handling by local authorities, and so benefit everyone using their services."

In 2025 the Ombudsman also published his recommendations following his investigation into the Housing Assistance Payment scheme (HAP). He said that while some progress has been made on several of the recommendations, he will continue to engage with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He added that, if fully implemented, the recommendations will see real improvements for those who rely on the scheme.

Complaints received during the year covered a wide range of public services, including social welfare allowances, housing applications, hospital services, private nursing home care and public third-level education services.

The Annual Report summarises some of the complaints dealt with, including cases where individuals were wrongly removed from the housing list and where an overseas pension was refused as a government department sent the wrong medical report to the overseas authority. Other cases involved a refusal of admission to a university course after confusion over the nature of a person's education qualification, and issues that arose in passport applications.

The Ombudsman's Annual Report 2025 is available on the Ombudsman's website. The Ombudsman's team hosts its monthly complaint clinic at Cork Citizens Information Centre on the third Tuesday of each month, from 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm, with dates and further details also available on the website.