Ombudsman for Children reports rise in complaints
There has been a large increase in the number of complaints made to the Ombudsman for Children, according to the office's annual report for 2011.
The report, published this morning, shows there were almost 1,500 complaints lodged last year - an increase of 22% on 2010.
Nearly half of the total complaints lodged to the Ombudsman last year related to education issues, including transport and special needs resources.
Children's Ombudsman Emily Logan has said her office chooses to pursue cases that are likely to deliver systemic change.
Ms Logan said: "One of the cases that was in the public domain during the year was the refusal by a school to admit a 16-year-old girl who was pregnant.
"Now while that was an individual case, the result of our work was that Ruairi Quinn was committed to enrolment legislation that affects all children in school.
"While the number of complaints are increasing, we are trying to select cases that will deliver change for more children so an individual case can be very powerful in delivering what is termed systemic change."
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