Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The answer to that question is to be found by looking at the independence of officers in other Departments across the spectrum, from social welfare to employment appeals and the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, who also comes within the remit of the Department of Health and Children. There is no question but that that post is completely independent of the Department. The same applies to An Bord Pleanála — a body established by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which is answerable to and funded by that Department. Therefore, there is no issue concerning the independence of statutorily appointed officers.

I do not envisage that the appeals officer will be accountable to the Ombudsman, as the amendment suggests. The redress mechanisms in the Bill are designed to be independent and transparent. I do not think the particular approach of this amendment would strengthen or improve the Bill's provisions.

On Committee Stage in the Dáil, I indicated that the DLCG had been offered the option to replace access to the appeals officer with access to the Ombudsman. This would mean that individuals would instead appeal to the Ombudsman from a finding or recommendation of the complaints officer under Part 2. The DLCG indicated its preference for an independent appeals officer, which allows, as a last resort, access to the Circuit Court for a notice to enforce the determination of the independent appeals officer. The mechanism also provides for resolution of appeals through mediation, where appropriate, and mediation settlements can also be subject to enforcement.

The system proposed is in line with the quasi-judicial system in other sectors, and would allow for initial complaints to be dealt with by statutory officers and for their decisions to be appealed to higher bodies with a possibility of a review of those decisions. Accordingly, I do not propose to accept the amendment.

In response to my offer on Committee Stage in the Dáil, the DLCG indicated at the recent meeting with the Taoiseach and myself its concerns about the locus of the appeals officer and its preference that it would fall under the aegis of a Department other than the Department of Health and Children. It suggested my Department in particular. It is the norm that such quasi-judicial appeals mechanisms are independent and operate under the aegis of the relevant Department for the sector. In the case of my Department, the remit for the independent refugee appeals tribunal deals with claims for asylum seekers in accordance with international standards. Placing the independent appeals officer under the locus of my Department would not make administrative or legal sense. It would not be appropriate to the subject matter, the issue of health and personal social services.

The system works well whereby the independent quasi-judicial appeals mechanism operates under the Department with overall responsibility. I have no doubt that the appeals officer in this case will be fully independent of the Department. The moral strength of the Ombudsman is greater than that of any appeals officer, which is why I offered the option of the Ombudsman as the appeals officer. However, for its own best reasons the DLCG decided to retain the present system even though it requested that the appeals system fall under a different Department, which I cannot accept.