Ms Elaine Cassidy:

I thank members of the committee for the invitation to appear before them today. I am the director general of the Office of the Ombudsman. For those of you who might be less familiar with the structure of our office, the Standards in Public Office Commission is one of six independent statutory offices under the structure of the Office of the Ombudsman. These offices are all funded through a single Vote and accountable to Dáil Éireann through a single Accounting Officer, which is me. The commission has its own staff complement, with finance, HR, legal, communications and IT functions shared with the other statutory offices, and that supports the commission's independence from Government.