Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will recommend that the clerk to the committee meet with the witnesses soon. He has considerable experience of working in these areas in respect of innovations and so on. I could also attend that meeting.

Will the Ombudsman write to us about any outstanding issues relating to medical cards which have not been addressed? We can then write to the Department.

The Ombudsman’s report has covered several key points: the extension of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to include public services provided by private bodies; the opportunities offered by the EU directive on alternative dispute resolution; the benefits of adopting a standardised approach to complaint handling across the public sector; the development of a single portal for complaints; and the benefits of affording the office constitutional status, with the Ombudsman becoming a constitutional office in the same way as the Comptroller and Auditor General. With the agreement of the committee, I suggest that we write to the relevant Ministers seeking their opinions on those recommendations and asking whether they would be minded to facilitate them. We will do that today and then write to the Ombudsman and have a dialogue about these matters.

Are there any other matters the Ombudsman would like us to consider on the basis of his report today?