Mr. Peter Tyndall:

The engagement with the Oireachtas in recent years has been good. By and large, ombudsman offices have had access to committees, as and when we have needed them. That has varied. As we outlined, some of the matters are very appropriate to the remit of certain committees. Generally, whatever the issue, my office has not experienced difficulty in engaging with the relevant committee. As stated by Ms Justice Ring, it is also the case for GSOC. Each of the offices, for instance, An Coimisinéir Teanga, has a good ongoing relationship with the relevant committee. The Office of the Children's Ombudsman also has very strong links with the relevant committee.

Access in recent years has been good, so we are not complaining about that. What we are saying in particular, as I stated in my earlier remarks, is that we need to be cautious that we do not become complacent because previously, when there was no formal basis for the engagement, it eventually went wrong when a committee was put in place with a specific locus to look at things that were not happening. It is worth saying that while recommendations are generally accepted, I suspect that a committee would also be interested in whether or not those recommendations have actually been implemented, and how well and how quickly they have been implemented.

It is one thing to say we agree with that, but another entirely to make it happen. There is a role for a committee in having that oversight.

To come back to the point I made earlier, there is no locus within the Oireachtas at the moment for oversight of the legislation governing the ombudsman offices. That was one of the things we were anxious to do, to see how this whole piece is working out. Are there things we need to do as a country to improve that? For instance, can we borrow from others who have had more recent experience in upgrading legislation? Those are some of the issues.

I emphasise we are not coming from a position where we had great difficulties in gaining access to committees. That is a historical problem. However, we want to see enshrined within the committee structure some protection for access, so there is a right of access. I come back to Senator Buttimer's comments that there is regularity to that access and a regular ongoing engagement. If it is dull, because everything is going smoothly, then we can keep it fairly brief and everybody can be happy. If it is not going smoothly, then there is a forum where any issues can be addressed.