Mr. Justice Alan Mahon:

If they so wish, yes. There is a benefit in going through the internal system for at least 28 days, however, as many of the complaints get resolved at that level, whereas although there may be a resolution if a member comes straight to the ombudsman, it will be further down the road. When a member brings a complaint internally, his or her commanding officer usually knocks a few heads together and sorts it out within those 28 days. It gets resolved and we never see that complaint. If a member comes straight to us, however, he or she does not get that opportunity for a quick resolution. They have that option now, however. Individuals may now be more inclined to come to us. The problem in such cases is that my office has to start an investigation from scratch, whereas when we get a referral from the Defence Forces section 114 internal system, a lot of investigative work has already been done, statements have been taken and things like that. For cases that come directly to us, there is an online form to fill in and we are starting from scratch, so it would not be done overnight. There is an increasing tendency in the Defence Forces to try to get things done quickly but some of the complaints do not lend themselves to-----