Dr. Niall Muldoon:

Overall, it would not be my belief that there is a need for an education ombudsman. Many of the questions come together in terms of whether our remit is sufficient. It is my belief that we do have a sufficient remit across the education system. We have overall responsibility for interaction with the Department of Education and Skills, although the system is probably not linked the way it should be. Members will see that I highlighted in the presentations the two elements of the architecture of complaints. I am a psychologist, and everyone here is a social worker or a lawyer. All of us have professional oversight bodies that examine our conduct. That has not happened in regard to teachers. It is a big drawback that there is not an element of independent oversight with regard to professional conduct. That is something no ombudsman will ever get to work on because part of the fundamentals of ombudsmanship is that one does not work in the working-----