Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Section 14 of the Bill deals specifically with civil servants who will be employed in the new office of the ombudsman of the Defence Forces. The provisions of the section reflect the corresponding provisions of section 10 of the Ombudsman Act 1980 and section 21 of the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 in providing that, "a member of staff of the Ombudsman shall be a civil servant in the Civil Service of the State", as opposed to a civil servant of the Government, the latter being typically a civil servant working in a line Department under a Minister.

Senator Brian Hayes's amendment would mean that the circumstances of those working in the office of the Defence Forces ombudsman would be different from the circumstances of those working in the offices of the other two existing statutory ombudsmen to which I have referred. While I accept that the language proposed by Senator Hayes is better, I regret that I cannot accept his amendments because I have difficulties with their content. To put it simply, it would not be acceptable for somebody who is a member of staff of the office of the Defence Forces ombudsman to be a servant of the Minister for Defence. I do not think that would be appropriate.