79 Complaints Made To Ombudsman About Public Services In Wicklow

Local authorities, government departments and health services made up the most complaints to the State Watchdog's office last year.

The Ombudsman has released his annual report for 2021.

Over 4 thousand complaints were made about public services in 2021, 79 came from members of the public in Wicklow.

These figures are the highest ever in the history of the state watchdog.

1,290 of those were to local authorities, with housing and planning making up the bulk of them.

Over 1 thousand complaints were made about government departments - but there was a decrease in those against Social Protection.

However, issues in the passport office led to an increase in complaints to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Nearly 800 complaints were then made against health services - including the HSE, public hospitals and Tusla.