Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

When an individual citizen is badly treated or does not get fair play from a public body, the course open to him or her is to take a case to the Ombudsman. The Office of the Ombudsman was established by the Oireachtas to provide an independent means of investigating complaints by members of the public. The idea is that a fair examination of the case takes place and the individual gets fair play.

Yesterday, we had a report from the Ombudsman on the right of older people to nursing home care. I acknowledge that the report criticises Governments of all hues over the past 25 years and that there are significant financial implications in what the Ombudsman had to say. In the course of her report, she that she encountered "unprecedented opposition, and a lack of co-operation" by the Department of Health and Children and Health Service Executive in the conduct of her examination. Yesterday, the Minister for Health and Children publicly rejected the report. This is the second time in quick succession that a Government Department has rejected a report from the Ombudsman. In recent weeks, the Government used its majority and applied the whip to vote down the lost at sea report at an Oireachtas committee.

What is the Taoiseach's response to the criticism of the Ombudsman that she encountered "unprecedented opposition" and "a lack of co-operation" by the Department of Health and Children and Health Service Executive in the conduct of her examination? Does the Government reject the Ombudsman's report on nursing home care? Is it not now the case that there is a pattern of the Government rejecting reports from the Ombudsman and, in effect, undermining her independence and, in the process, the right of individual citizens to have recourse to an independent body to investigate complaints against public authorities?

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