Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is a very interesting report and I commend the work the Ombudsman's office has done on it. It seems quite shocking that the State would be flouting the law. We as a committee have come across that experience already in our engagement with An Coimisnéir Teanga. If the State does not function on the basis of law, that is a threat to the democratic nature of the State. This committee was designed to oversee public service delivery. We note from the Ombudsman's presentation that for years Ombudsmen delivered information to the Houses of the Oireachtas and for years that information was flouted. My view is that we as a committee would not be doing our job or functioning properly if we were to allow that practice to continue in this State.

I have a few questions for the Ombudsman. Is it the case that the Minister is in conflict with the HSE? The HSE has accepted and is about to deliver in this respect but the Minister has not and is not going to deliver, is that the case? What are the financial implications of that and what would be the legal route for redress in this regard? I do not mean redress for the particular individual but in terms of trying to resolve the matter of Departments operating outside the law. I ask the Ombudsman to defer answering my questions until I take questions from one other member and thereafter I will take questions from two members at a time. The next speaker is Deputy Healy-Rae.