Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I certainly will not withdraw the amendment; I might even consider calling a vote given how strongly I feel about it.

We should think about the rationale the Minister of State has just provided. There are ombudsmen in different sectors. Ms Emily O'Reilly was very successful as Ombudsman and is now the European Ombudsman, based on the success of that model and her strong performance in the role. It was also a tribute to the Irish people and the success of our Ombudsman model and how well that worked.

The Minister of State made a point about what happens at weekends. There are senior staff who can deal with these matters, but in general the buck needs to stop with one Ombudsman. Let us consider other sectors. We have the Financial Services Ombudsman, the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces, and an Coimisinéir Teanga. It is one person every time and the buck stops with that person. I have not heard any argument justifying the need for three people to make a decision that should be made essentially by one person. The model internationally with police ombudsmen, sectoral ombudsmen or public service ombudsmen is for one person with senior advisers making the call.

The chairman of GSOC has recently resigned to take up a new position in Britain in order to be closer to his family and so on, and good luck to him. That vacancy gives us an opportunity to address the difficulties with the current structure.

I feel very strongly on this. The Government has not offered any justification for this not happening.

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