Photo credits: http://www.europarl.europa.eu Three Irish nuns who stopped receiving pension payments from Portugal for six months after returning home were assisted by the Ombudsman who sorted the payment issue. The nuns had returned to Ireland after spending decades in Portugal providing education and care to disadvantaged people when the payments stopped.
The religious congregation in Ireland explained to the Ombudsman that they had great difficulties trying to resolve the problem with the Portuguese authorities as they received no replies to their letters, emails and phone calls. Ombudsman Peter Tyndall contacted his Portuguese counterpart through the European Ombudsman Network (EON), who contacted the Portuguese pension authorities.
The EON is co-ordinated by the European Ombudsman.
After Mr Tyndall arranged for a series of documents and declarations to be sent to the Portuguese Ombudsman, the Portuguese pension authorities eventually agreed to pay the pension entitlements and the arrears that was due to the nuns.