Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I reassure the House that this clause cannot be used to exclude a person. The clause which excludes the jurisdiction of the ombudsman will always receive a strict construction and any fair reading of this provides that a person cannot make a complaint if that person is or has been the subject of legal proceedings before a court or tribunal. That is the clear sense of the provision and it does not bear the interpretation placed on it by Deputy Ó Caoláin.

See this speech in context