Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

Senator Mansergh questioned the out-sourcing work of Departments or public bodies. This does not take in areas outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction. Clearly, this will have to be considered in the context of the impending Bill. Senator Henry raised a number of issues from her professional experience as a medical consultant. She mentioned waiting lists for orthodontic services and, based on cases in the report, highlighted the desirability of producing leaflets to ensure that individuals did not do something that might inadvertently result in them losing benefits. The Ombudsman mentioned the number of section 7 demands she had to make for documents, especially to the Department of Education and Science. I suspect this may be due to the pressure that Department is coming under as a result of the commission on child abuse. Apart from this glitch, it is a consolation that the need to make these demands is falling off.

Senator Daly noted with satisfaction that the Ombudsman held information sessions around the country and is recommending that she establishes regional offices. As an independent office, the Ombudsman has not been included in the Government's decentralisation programme. However, the Ombudsman, committed as she is to an efficient office, may well give thought to doing so when we have more than 10,000 civil servants located outside Dublin city.

Senator O'Toole spoke in very positive terms about the work delivered by the office. He noted that complaints have dropped over the years by 10% against the background of a larger population, which is more inclined to complain now than in 1984 when the Ombudsman was first appointed. Senator Maurice Hayes brought his experience of a very good period as ombudsman in Northern Ireland to bear on the discussion and his suggestion to use the report as a training tool is very important. My Department and others take that issue on board. Training does not always work but the experiences that come out of the report and the comments made here are very positive. I commend the report to the Senators and I thank them for their very constructive and complimentary remarks on it.