Ms Emily O'Reilly:

I thank the committee for being so engaged. The Committee on Public Petitions emerged many years ago after a report I did, famously called Lost at Sea, when for the first time ever, an Ombudsman's recommendation was not accepted because there was a political element to it. At the time, there was no dedicated committee for the hearing of Ombudsman's reports. The committee at the time, split along political lines. As a result of that, the petitions committee was set up. I remember it was Deputy Charlie Flanagan who was Chair at the time. He vowed to make it as non-political as was humanly possible in a parliament to make anything non-political. That is why it is a great pleasure for me to appear here. I wish the committee well in this work, because it is really important. This committee listens to the people in a very specific way and that is really important to them.