78 complaints were made to the Ombudsman for Public Services about the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) last year.
This is a slight increase on 2021 when 77 complaints in relation to the department were made to the office.
The vast majority of the DAFM-related complaints received by the Ombudsman in 2022 concerned payments and schemes administered by the department.
According to figures provided by the Office of the Ombudsman to Agriland, 17 complaints were on forestry grants and premiums, while 10 complaints related to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).
There were nine complaints focused on the Green, Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) and eight complaints on the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP).
Three complaints were made to the Ombudsman concerning the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) and the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme (ANC) accounted for two complaints.
There were also complaints on access to or applications for grants and permits.
24 of the complaints related to the DAFM were not categorised.
Ombudsman
Overall, 2022 saw the highest number of complaints ever made to Ombudsman for Public Services.
The office’s annual report published today (Wednesday, June 14) shows there were 4,791 complaints about public service bodies, an increase of over 19% on the 2021 figure.
The increase was primarily driven by 835 complaints about the Passport Service.
Complaints about government departments and offices accounted for the largest number of complaints with 1,842 – an increase of 73% on 2021.
The Department of Foreign Affairs was the government department/office with the highest number of complaints with 853, followed by Department of Social Protection (621), the Revenue Commissioners (91), DAFM (78) and the Department of Justice (49).
The Ombudsman upheld or partly upheld 16% of complaints investigated in this sector and provided some form of assistance in a further 46% of cases; 38% of cases were not upheld.