Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Has Mr. Tyndall received complaints about the 5 km rule? From a cursory glance at the @OfficeOmbudsman handle on Twitter, and my poor operation of Twitter, it is difficult to find. Has he considered changing the name on Twitter?

I join with Ms Justice Ring in commending the men and women of An Garda Síochána for the courtesy they have shown at checkpoints, and I have met them in the course of my work as I travelled to and from Dublin, in particular. They have been very courteous and understanding in dealing with me and other people for which I thank them. Let me add that the gardaí have had to work in very inclement weather.

Deputy Murphy made a point about the six ombudspersons' offices and annual reports. I have a view, which I shared at the last committee, that we should be the lead committee to deal with all, collectively and individually, of the ombudsmen's offices and that we should give Mr. Tyndall's office star billing, which is a term I hate to use. I mean he should be central to our committee's work because we can play a pivotal role with him in promulgating and highlighting his work. We can also be a voice for the under-represented, which is part of what we should do as the Committee on Public Petitions.

Deputy Murphy also mentioned the vaccination programme and the EU ombudsperson. It would be fantastic if we could have that interaction because it would help us and illuminate a lot of information from this committee into the general public around vaccination and the work of the EU. Prior to this meeting we got a very interesting paper from Mr. Tiago Tiburcio, who is a researcher in the University of Lisbon, on the role of ombudsmen and petition committees in detecting breaches of EU law. Leaving the last part aside, I would like if we could meet Mr. Tyndall again on a further date to explore how we can work in terms of EU law and greater visibility. I thank the delegation for today.