Tipperary people made 62 complaints to Ombudsman in 2017

The Office of the Ombudsman received 62 complaints from people living in Tipperary, according to the office's annual report which was due to be published this week.

The highest number of complaints were in the areas of Government departments / offices; local authorities and health and social care.

Tipperary County Council received 24 complaints.

Among the cases investigated was one involving a man who complained about Tipperary County Council’s decision to only pay him half the grant the council had provisionally approved under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme on the grounds that a specific condition requiring native Irish materials had not been met.

The man said that neither the application form nor the guidance circular provided with the application form specified that the materials used must be of Irish origin.

He only became aware of this months after his application had been submitted and only at the time that the provisional grant was offered.

At that stage the man had already sourced the materials required and booked a thatcher.

It was too late for him to source the quantity of reed necessary from that winter’s Irish harvest and so he had to proceed with his thatcher’s sourcing of the necessary materials.

On examination, it was found that the application form, accompanying guidelines, and information booklet on the scheme did not have a specific condition stating explicitly that “native Irish materials” had to be used. The Ombudsman was satisfied that the man met the requirements as laid out in the relevant documentation at the time of submitting his application.

The council revised its decision and paid the man the remainder of the original sum it offered him of €2,500.