More than 40 complaints from Donegal were made to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office

A total of 42 complaints from Donegal were made to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) last year. This represented 2% of the complaints nationally, which a similar percentage compared with the previous 12 months.

According to the OCO annual report for 2021, there was a 79% increase in the number of complaints nationally.

In 2021 there were 2,126 complaints made to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office, with 908 of these directly related to Covid-19 issues. These issues included restrictions in schools, uncertainty surrounding the Leaving Certificate, facemasks and supports for children with disabilities.

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Commenting on the report, the Ombudsman for Children, Donegal native, Dr Niall Muldoon said, “The OCO received a record number of complaints on behalf of children and young people last year. While some of this can be attributed to a resumption of services following the blanket closures of 2020, a large proportion of complaints related directly to Covid-19 issues.

“Children are often recognised for their ability to learn, to adapt, to endure difficulties, to recover and to accept change. But even the strongest of us have our limits and in 2021 even the most resilient child was tested.

“In 2021 children, and indeed the public services providing for them, had to simply ‘get on with it’. Children were expected to make-do with the stop-start nature of school, they were expected to make friends behind masks, and they were expected to accept the cancelled plans, the curtailed experiences.

“The impact of the past two years can be clearly seen in the issues being raised with the OCO and I expect that there will be a knock-on effect for years to come.

“It is vital that we take the learnings from the pandemic to bring about change for children. An investment in children’s futures and commitment from the Government is needed to ensure that we do not miss the opportunity to do things better.,” he said.

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The Ombudsman for Children’s Office Annual Report 2021 reflects the challenges faced by children, families and public services last year to ‘keep going’ in the face of restrictions and lockdowns.

For many years education has been the subject of most complaints to the OCO and this was the case again in 2021, with 53% of complaints relating to education. In keeping with previous years, bullying again accounted for 10% of education related complaints.

The report also features the stories of some of the children the OCO worked on behalf of last year; the faces behind the figures. 

Mr Muldoon added: “In 2021 the OCO published reports on Traveller issues, Direct Provision and the barriers facing children with disabilities.  The scourge of child homelessness and poverty also remain of huge concern to us, and our Better Normal proposal to eradicate these issues was debated in the Dáil last year. 

“It is clear that children are still experiencing delays in accessing services and Government departments and agencies still need to be more child centred. The pandemic has shown like never before how children’s best interests need to be at the centre of decisions affecting them, which wasn’t always the case in 2021,” he said.