Ulster Bank mortgage query

I am waiting for a stage payment from Ulster Bank into my solicitors account. I believe their mortatage section is in dublin,can I contact these directly for updates or do I have to go through my local branch?

Also anyone got any estimates on how long it takes to release a stage payment, my engineer sent in the Payment request about 2 weeks ago now?

I think that its better to go through the branch, especially if you kknow someone there, such as the mortgageadvisor