Jargon Buster
Ombudsman
A government appointed official who represents public interests by investigating and addressing complaints reported by individual citizens.
The Ombudsman examines complaints about administrative actions by:
- Government Departments (e.g. Department of Social and Family Affairs, Revenue Commissioners)
- The Health Service Executive
- Local authorities
- An Post
The Ombudsman can step in if you have complaints about the service you've received from one of these organisations and been unsuccessful in your efforts to sort out the problem with them.
Since the original Ombudsman's office was established, several other "ombudsmen" - agencies with an ombudsman type of role - have been set up for more specialised areas, such as the Financial Services Ombudsman and the Ombudsman for Children.
Read more about the Office of the Ombudsman