Customer Complaints

Complaints

The customer complaints leaflet, available for download below, sets out our procedures for dealing with complaints. Any individual, company or organisation may make a complaint.

1. We will treat your complaint properly, fairly and impartially. Making a complaint will have no implication for your dealings and contacts with Carlow County Council.
2. An officer of the council other than those involved in the original decision or action will carefully examine your complaint.
3. Correspondence about your complaint will be filed separately from other information held about you.
4. We will examine and review your complaint and send a reply to you within 15 working days of receipt of your complaint. Where it is not possible to meet this target, we will inform you and continue to do so until the matter is resolved.
5. We will apologise for any mistake, explain what happened and put it right wherever possible.

Freedom of information Act

The Freedom of Information Act came into effect for local authorities on 21st October 1998. This Act gives you the right to access records held by Carlow County Council. If you are refused access to records the County Council must give you an explanation. A decision on your request will normally be made within four weeks. All requests must be in writing.

Office of the Ombudsman

We hope that we have been able to resolve your complaint satisfactorily. However, if you remain unhappy with our response then you can refer your complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is impartial and free to use.

The Ombudsman will ask you for details of your complaint and to provide a copy of this letter (our final response to your complaint). The best way to do this is through:

• ‘Make A Complaint’ at www.ombudsman.ie

You can also write to: Office of the Ombudsman, 6 Earlfort Terace, Dublin 2, D02 W772 

or call 01 636 5600 if you have any queries