Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

The Bill provides that the Defence Forces ombudsman will be appointed to that office by the President acting on the recommendation of the Government. This mirrors the mode of appointment of the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces. The amendment would require the person appointed to the office of Defence Forces ombudsman to be appointed in a similar mode to other holders of statutory offices of ombudsman, for example, the original 1980 Ombudsman for the public service and the more recent Ombudsman for Children. However, these offices provide a very wide range of public functions and are available to the entire body of the general public, essentially the entire national population as regards their various functions. The Defence Forces ombudsman, however, has by definition a much more restricted potential audience and remit, namely, the serving personnel of the Defence Forces and former such personnel as subject to the provisions of the Bill. The remit of the Defence Forces ombudsman is restricted to matters internal to the Defence Forces subject to the provisions of the Bill as a whole.

I take the point about the status of the office. The amendment was initially what was wanted by the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association, PDFORRA. However, the Department has been in communication with the association to explain our thinking. I would not mislead the House by stating that PDFORRA is now fully in line with the thinking of the Department. The idea is to have a mode of appointment for the ombudsman which would exactly mirror that for the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, which will give even greater status to the office. This is the current thinking and we are ad idem with PDFORRA on this matter. In addition, not to require a resolution of the Dáil and Seanad gives more flexibility as an appointment would not have to wait until the Houses are sitting, although that is a minor point.

We have emphasised the importance of the office by providing that the office holder would be appointed in precisely the same way as the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces. This has been discussed with PDFORRA which is now quite satisfied. With respect to all points of view, I would prefer to leave the Bill as it stands.