Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for tabling this amendment. It would provide for the repeal of subsection (2) thereby deleting subsection (9)(2) of the Ombudsman Children Act 2002, which prevents the Ombudsman from investigating a complaint until a local school compliant process has been exhausted. I understand the concerns raised by the Senator and my Department is actively considering this provision in conjunction with the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. There is ongoing engagement on that. That engagement will involve the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Office of the Attorney General and a decision will be made when it has concluded.

As part of this work, further, more detailed consideration must be given as to how best to balance factors such as the valid issues raised by the Senator, the current legal framework under which the Ombudsman for Children's office operates, the autonomy of schools and the general desirability that grievance procedures at school level should be followed before the Ombudsman for Children's office would become involved in a complaint.

While I cannot accept the amendment at this time, I assure the Senator that this issue remains under active consideration by my officials. I hope to bring forward an amendment for Report Stage. In layman's terms, it is not giving the Ombudsman the full rein but there are examples where schools may in the future frustrate or delay proceedings. That is the space we are in. I am happy to consider the issue again but, because a conversation is ongoing between the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Ombudsman for Children, I am not in a position to accept this amendment today.