Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I take on board what has been said by Senators about the potential reluctance of people to come forward and make a complaint. We have engaged in a number of initiatives to deal with that into which I will go if Senators wish.

In regard to this amendment, it is an essential principle of the legislation that, subject to the provisions of the Bill, the Defence Forces ombudsman may investigate an action that is the subject of a complaint made to him or her by a person affected by the action. It is an essential condition, therefore, that there must be an identifiable individual complainant in place. This proposed amendment would depart from that basic concept. One cannot envisage how, in practice, the Defence Forces ombudsman could autonomously commence an investigation into an action in the absence of either a complainant or a complaint.

Moreover, this amendment would apparently place the ombudsman in the position, as Senator Minihan indicated, of determining whether an offence under military law may have been committed or whether disciplinary proceedings under military law would be justified. This is a role strictly confined to the relevant military legal authorities at brigade or service levels and at the level of the office of director of legal service, the deputy judge advocate general. The ombudsman has no legal power or competence to attempt to make such professional judgments in the area of military law and, for those reasons, I cannot accept the amendment.