Ms Emily O'Reilly:

Absolutely. I well remember the history of the petitions committee because there was not a petitions committee when I dealt with a quite famous case, the lost at sea case, several years ago. It was the first time that a recommendation had been rejected so I decided to submit a special report to the Parliament. The then Government decided not even to have a committee discuss it. Anyway, the case became politicised, not because of anything my office had done but because we had, unusually, looked at the actions of a Minister in regard to the development of the scheme. Naturally, that gave rise to political sensitivities, which had an impact. Then the committee that investigated or considered the report split on party lines, which was a pity because I believe an Ombudsman's report should be dealt with in an impartial way insofar as that is possible in a political community like the Oireachtas. Arising out of that, the petitions committee was created. Deputy Charles Flanagan was the Minister who was at the first session, I believe, and he said that, to the greatest extent possible, the committee would not split along party lines on Ombudsman reports. That does not mean one cannot reject them; of course they can be rejected. If an Ombudsman makes a recommendation, it does not mean it is necessarily going to be accepted, but it is critical that it be evaluated impartially and that the way the Ombudsman — currently Mr. Peter Tyndall — goes about his work also be evaluated impartially and independently.

I welcome what the Deputy said about greater liaison between my office and the Petitions Committee, which is the committee to which I report within the European Parliament. I said earlier but cannot emphasise enough how important it is that the work of the EU and communication thereon take place not in Brussels but exactly where the members are all now. That is so important. A petitions committee has great potential to achieve that. Arguably, there are foreign affairs and European affairs committees and so on but this committee is the link to the people, just as my office is, and that is where our complementary roles lie.