Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all our guests. There is a lot of respect in these Houses for their office and the work they all do. Theirs is a voice such that, when they speak, we should really be listening. For me, that was highlighted by the very positive engagement we had with the youth advisory panel. The witnesses are quite right with their title. These are uncertain times. I look at the recent NYCI study as well which echoes that uncertainty and sense of foreboding that young people feel. Certainly, the young people from the youth advisory panel who appeared before the committee were an absolute breath of fresh air. They were a wonderful challenge to us and were wonderful to have in. They reflect very well on the ombudsman's office, as does this and the other reports it does and the other work it does in supporting parents.

I want to go back to some of the stuff the witnesses were talking about with Senator Seery Kearney regarding prevention, because ultimately prevention is better than the cure. When 40% of complaints relate to education year in, year out, it speaks to the fact the Department of Education is not learning the lesson. I know the ombudsman has said he goes to the top as far as he can. Does anyone ever come to him proactively? Does the ombudsman ever get proactive engagement from the HSE or the Department of Education? He mentioned in his opening statement about the rights workshops the office does with young people. It sounds to me like he needs to be doing them with the decision-makers and the civil servants. Perhaps, in the new Dáil term, the ombudsman could have a session with newly elected TDs, and I am sure many older elected TDs would sneak into that one as well. That could be very useful. Is there any sort of proactive, positive engagement from the organisations I referred to?

When we talk about how there are many agencies and the issues affecting children cut across many agencies, as from the last conversation but also from the report, where one in five is dealing with multiple agencies, what comes to mind when the ombudsman talks about going to the top and the accountability piece is the child poverty unit within the Department of the Taoiseach. Has there been positive engagement by the ombudsman's office with that unit? If those in that unit are, in a way, trying to cut through the silos and pull people together, then their listening to the ombudsman's experience on the front line is essential.

Going to the top is going to the Cabinet and going to an Taoiseach. That is part of our role and no doubt everyone on this side would be more than happy to represent the ombudsman's views, but it would certainly benefit his office to be directly plugged into that and I hope that is happening. I will leave it there for the minute. The witnesses' views on those issues would be most welcome.