Ms Emily O'Reilly:

I was asked whether the freedom of information provisions will apply to my office and to the Central Bank. The administration of my office comes within the remit of freedom of information but not its investigations per se. They are protected, as are other ombudsman office investigations.

In regard to complaints against my office, I once attended a meeting of ombudsmen where the question was raised as to whether there should be an ombudsman for ombudsmen. In other words, quis custodiet ipsos custodes? We constantly review our own internal complaints procedures in order to ensure they are as transparent and robust as possible. I accept that people sometimes will not be satisfied with the outcome of their engagement with the office. There is the possibility of judicial review in such cases but that can be an expensive process. I cannot give an easy answer to the Deputy's question and will not give a glib one, other than to say that we take every complaint seriously. When a complaint is submitted, an investigator other than the person who received it is assigned to deal with it. It then goes up the line, usually ending up with me, unless I am the subject of the complaint in which case the director general would deal with it.

We have a great deal of personal interaction with complainants and will go back to them again and again. There are people we continue to have dialogue with for years. I am not saying we always act perfectly - that is absolutely not the case. Sometimes people who feel they have been wronged either do not understand that I cannot do anything about it or it is something that so troubles them that they cannot let it go. We take complaints very seriously, mainly because of the nature of our own office. Nobody likes being criticised and we are no exception. As I said, there is always the option of judicial review. I may be creating a stick to beat my own back in pointing out that in the United Kingdom office, it is not uncommon for decisions to be “JRed”, as it is called. I understand this has not happened in the history of our office, but that particular remedy is there.

As it happens, I discussed the Lost at Sea case with my colleagues earlier this morning. Members are no doubt aware of the history of that matter. It was a very unhappy episode for my office, for the family involved and for the Oireachtas in terms of how it was handled. I have exhausted all of my particular powers in this regard. I put it before the committee at the time that the Government did not wish to answer to it in terms of its decision, but it did eventually relent. The committee subsequently split along party lines and the recommendation was rejected. I can do no more in this matter. It is up to the committee or the Oireachtas to take it up with the Government. I did what I could do and was legally empowered to do on that case.