Mr. Mark Bohan:

I thank the Chair. I, too, can be brief. Essentially the position of my Department is the same as that laid out by my colleague from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, in so far as it relates to the Ombudsman's office. The Ombudsman, Mr. Tyndall, will be making his own statement shortly.

The Office of the Ombudsman is independent in its function. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has responsibility for the Ombudsman Acts which underpin the statutory role of the Office of the Ombudsman, while the responsibility for policy rests with another Department. We are here in order to examine any issues which may arise for the role of the Ombudsman. If there were to be any changes to the powers of the Office of the Ombudsman for Children to investigate school complaints, we would have to ensure that the role would also be assigned to the ombudsman where the student had reached the age of 18. That is really where our connection comes in. That is really it.