Feedback & Complaints

As part of our values, we seek to do our best and to treat everyone the way we’d like to be treated ourselves, with respect and consideration. We are committed to ensuring that we live up to our values and we appreciate what we learn by experience- and by mistakes. If for any reason you have a complaint for us, we want to hear about it and will endeavour to do our utmost to resolve it fairly, efficiently and effectively.

We welcome both positive and negative feedback and we aim to ensure that:

• It is as easy as possible to make a complaint
• We treat as a complaint any clear expression of dissatisfaction with our operations which calls for a response
• We treat it seriously whether it is made by telephone, letter, fax, email or in-person

• We deal with it quickly and politely
• We respond accordingly - for example, with an explanation, or an apology where we have got things wrong, and information on any action taken etc.
• We learn from complaints, use them to improve, and monitor them at staff and board level

If you are wanting to report or give feedback on any child safeguarding concerns, these should be directed to our Designated Liaison Person, Al Russell at al@ark.ie or 0867341017. You can see further information in our Child Safeguarding Statement here: https://ark.ie/about/child-safeguarding-statement

Verbal Feedback: Many complaints can be successfully resolved informally and at the time, so we do encourage you to speak to a member of staff during your visit or engagement with The Ark or soon after. If you make a complaint in this way, please make note of the person you are speaking with. If a solution is offered at this time, please also make note of this.

If the complaint cannot be resolved at that time, it will be escalated to the appropriate member of staff. This member of staff will acknowledge and make contact with the complainant within 5 working days and will endeavour to resolve the complaint within 10 working days. If this is not possible, we will explain why and provide a new deadline.

If you are unable to give verbal feedback or would prefer to address it more formally, we invite you to contact us as laid out below.

Stage 1: You can contact The Ark in writing, in person or by telephone*. If you contact us in person or over the phone, we will try to resolve the issue there and then. Similarly, if you contact us in writing by email or post, we will always acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days of receipt and do everything we can to resolve it within 10 working days. If this is not possible, we will explain why and provide a new deadline. When submitting your feedback/complaint, please give us as much information as you can and let us know how you would like to be contacted going forward.

Please contact:
Al Russell, General Manager.
al@ark.ie
The Ark, 11a Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, D02 A590
Tel: +353 (0)1 670 7788 (*Please note that due to Covid-19 restrictions, our phonelines are closed, therefore we request that you submit your feedback or complaint by email)

Stage Two: If you are not happy with our response or feel your issue has not been sufficiently resolved, you may get in touch again in writing to The Ark’s Director. Please give us as much information as possible on the issue, including your previous correspondences with The Ark on this issue and how you would like us to respond and rectify the problem, providing relevant contact details.

Please contact:
Aideen Howard, Director.
aideenhoward@ark.ie
The Ark, 11a Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, D02 A590 <

Stage Three – Final Recourse.
If you are still not happy with our response, you may get in touch again by writing to the Chair of The Ark’s Board. The Chair will ensure that your appeal is considered at board level and will respond within two weeks of this consideration by board members.

Please contact:
Carol Fawsitt, Chair.
The Ark, 11a Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, D02 A590

The Ark will respect a complainant’s confidentiality and keep the complaint confidential as far as is possible. Any information about the complaint will as far as possible be shared only with those who need to know in order to help resolve it. There may however be incidences where The Ark cannot provide absolute confidentiality. This may, for example, arise in circumstances where a child may be at risk of harm. In these circumstances, any relevant information will be shared with others concerned in the safety and welfare of these individuals.