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

To finalise the matter, after today, in terms of your experience to date and in terms of your team, we would appreciate a follow-up submission from the ombudsman identifying areas where it would be very useful to have strengthened powers to strengthen the role of the office and to ensure it can fulfil as much as possible its responsibilities. That goes for all the ombusdmen. The Garda Ombudsman will have strengthened powers. Legislation is currently being moved through the Houses. That legislation, in draft format, may be strengthened by the time it goes through all the various stages. There is a desire to strengthen and enhance the offices of the ombudsmen across the different sectors. They have captured the imagination of the public; an independent adjudicator, a final arbiter on behalf of the citizen and the relevant public servant or, as in this case, member of the Defence Forces. That is the intention of this series of engagements with the current ombudsmen. At the end of that series, we will publish a report with our recommendations to strengthen powers and ensuring that the Offices are fit for purpose and can fulfil the roles that the citizens or the servants of the people desire.