Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Justice Ring and Mr. Tyndall for their presentations. I am looking forward to working closely with their offices. It is to be hoped it will be as close as it was with the previous committee. We are all here for the benefit of the public to improve things.

We will give people five minutes each if they indicate by raising their hands on their monitors. Everybody should be able to get back in. Before bringing other members in, I will ask a few questions. How do the witnesses find the current arrangements where the sectoral committees have two months to consider the annual or special reports of the Ombudsman? The Committee on Public Petitions considers reports not considered by the sectoral committee after two months. Second, there is a provision in Standing Orders whereby the committee may refer a petition to the Ombudsman. Do the witnesses think that referral could be a useful process? Third, there is a provision in Standing Orders which says the committee will not accept petitions about the decisions of an ombudsman. Do the witnesses have any views on this Standing Order? Does it uphold the independence of the Ombudsman? Last, what do the witnesses see as the essential difference between the role of the petitions committee and the role of the Ombudsman? The staff of the Ombudsman and the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas are all civil servants of the State. It was suggested that the petitions committee usually looks at the general case or the public body while the Ombudsman usually looks at a particular case or cases. Does Ms Justice Ring or Mr. Tyndall have an opinion on that?