Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I thank my colleague, Senator Regan, for bringing this very important motion before the House. He has taken a great interest in the matter and was a regular attender at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the report came before us for deliberation. It is not the first time this House has discussed the lost at sea scheme. Once again it is appropriate as we reflect on this report and the matters to which it pertains that we acknowledge the great tragedy suffered by the Byrne family in October 1981. That was almost 30 years ago but the tragedy and loss suffered by that family and others is enduring. We should remind ourselves of that sad fact.

It is 12 months since the Ombudsman presented her special report to the Oireachtas. The report has been the subject of much debate and a certain degree of division since its publication. We must acknowledge the fact that a special report by the Office of the Ombudsman is a rarity and this is only the second such report. When Dr. FitzGerald's Government put in place legislation in the 1980s to create the Office of the Ombudsman and the first position was taken up by Mr. Mills, we aspired to having an Ombudsman's office that would be a final recourse to the citizen when the State, through its various agencies, channels and Departments, did not give a fair hearing to such a citizen. Much good and useful work has been done and many very fine recommendations have been made by the Ombudsman's office down the years, but I stress that only two such special reports have been made. This is one of them.

The Ombudsman's findings and recommendations are clear. The office has ruled firmly in favour of the Byrne family and has highlighted serious concerns about the way in which the initial scheme of compensation was put in place. Serious allegations have been made about the application procedure and a recommendation was made that compensation of an unnamed amount be awarded to the Byrne family. We have to take this report with absolute sincerity and respond to it in a serious fashion. If, politically speaking, we decide it was a good idea to set up the Office of the Ombudsman and give the office extensive powers to investigate and make recommendations, as I believe everyone will agree it was, we cannot have it both ways. We cannot say the Office of the Ombudsman must be independent, impartial, powerful, given facilities to investigate and allowed to report, and then, should we decide to do so, simply ignore the reports. Unfortunately, that is what the Department and the Government is doing with this report.

We have had an extensive review of the report at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. We interviewed a significant number of witnesses and met and interviewed the Ombudsman, Ms O'Reilly. Unfortunately, at the end of our deliberations, party politics took over and the Government used its majority on the Oireachtas committee to find against the Ombudsman. That was a disappointing intervention of party politics in what should have been a deliberately sensitive and important report.

Politics is at a very low ebb at present. As we know, our economy is in freefall, the public has lost a huge amount of confidence in the Government and, sadly, has also lost a huge amount of confidence in the political system and political parties. The way the Government has dismissed this report and used its majority on an Oireachtas committee to reject it adds profoundly to the cynicism in which politics is held. It also adds to the sense of despair the citizen would feel as to what assistance or recourse to intervention is available when the Government decides to shut down assistance and help as outlined in this report.

The way we respond to this motion is important in that sense. We must show clearly that, as a House of the Oireachtas, we are able to look at the bigger picture and at the impartial, non-political work done by the Office of the Ombudsman. We should be big enough to decide we would not cherry pick and say some of the Ombudsman's reports are okay because they do not contain political criticism but reports which contain a degree of political criticism and demand a higher standard of political accountability can be cast aside. That would be a very dangerous response by this House to what is not just a report by the Ombudsman but a special report laid before this House.

The motion puts before all of us a challenge to do the right thing politically. We must show each and every citizen of the State that an independent office such as the Ombudsman will be allowed to get on with its work, that politics will not have the final say and that party politics will not be used to make the final decision. Unfortunately, party politics was used to make the final decision at the joint committee. I would hope that in this more reflective Chamber of the Oireachtas colleagues would be prepared to see the bigger picture, to examine the wider consequence of a decision to reject the Ombudsman's special report and to try to act in a proper fashion.

It was at the Oireachtas committee when the Minister of State's former ministerial colleague and now former Member, Mr. Jim McDaid, said there was something of a stink about the whole compensation scheme, the way it had been implemented and the way the Byrne family had been treated. That was the commentary from a former Minister on the Government side who, I presume, had done extensive investigations into the whole process which has brought us to where we are. Most fair-minded people would be deeply unhappy with the way the Byrne family was treated. Most people for whom the bigger picture rather than party politics is the primary concern would feel that, once the Office of the Ombudsman investigates, deliberates, considers and reports on a matter, we should have the capacity to implement her findings.

The Ombudsman's report is spectacularly clear in its findings and recommendations. There is a moral obligation on us, as part of our broader efforts to renew politics and renew faith and confidence in political life, to accept the Ombudsman's recommendations and findings and to respond accordingly. That is the challenge to Senators and to this important House of the Oireachtas. I appeal to my colleagues on the Government side to try to act in the broader national interest and the interest of returning to politics some degree of decency and respect for the independence of the Ombudsman's office.