Mr. Justice Alan Mahon:

It could be sped up within the internal system of the Defence Forces to some extent. The problem is that complaints have to be investigated fully. Many of the complaints are complex and it is often the case that there might be five, six or seven witnesses to be interviewed and a couple of them may be abroad. It can be difficult for the Defence Forces or whatever investigation process there is to investigate quickly. They have improved in terms of their throughput. My office deals with complaints very quickly once we have the full information. It might take a while to get that information but we pride ourselves now on getting decisions out quickly. Most of the complaints are urgent. For example, many of the complaints we receive relate to promotion. The problem is that a complainant who discovers he or she is not going to be promoted, for example, then has to lodge a complaint, which takes time, and in the meanwhile that promotion opportunity passes by because things cannot be done that quickly in most instances. It is the same with courses.

The Defence Forces have probably improved in terms of their throughput of cases. Of course, we permit individuals to come directly to us. That was not the case until a couple of years ago. The old rule was that a member of the Defence Forces had to go through an internal Defence Forces system under section 114 and only after 28 days could the member ask for it to go to the ombudsman. We now allow members of the Defence Forces to come directly to us and an increasing number of them are doing so. It increases-----