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25th Anniversary - Ombudsman's Office reaches quarter century mark

Date released: 27.01.2009

The Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly today ( Thursday 22, January 2009 ) met with President McAleese in Áras an Uachtaráin to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Office of the Ombudsman. Accompanied in the visiting group by Mrs Brid Mills, widow of the first Ombudsman, Mr Michael Mills R.I.P and her predecessor Ombudsman, Mr Kevin Murphy, Ms O’Reilly expressed her appreciation to President McAleese for agreeing to host the visit celebrating the Office of the Ombudsman reaching the quarter-century milestone.

Speaking today the Ombudsman said, “The late Mr. Michael Mills set this Office on firm foundations following his appointment by the then President, the late Dr. Patrick Hillery, in January 1984.Mr. Kevin Murphy, who succeeded Michael in November 1994, strengthened our independent and free service for people who feel that they have been unfairly treated in their dealings with the public service. Since 1984, tens of thousands of people have been helped by the dedicated staff of my Office who are committed to raising standards of service for customers of government departments, the health service, the local authorities and other public bodies. I am grateful to my predecessors and to the staff of the Office, past and present, for their role in creating and maintaining an Office that has, I believe, contributed much to Irish society and to Irish public administration”.

The Ombudsman said that the institution of the Ombudsman, first set up in Sweden exactly 200 years ago, was needed more than ever to protect the most exposed and unprotected people in the community. She added that independence, fairness and impartiality were the hallmarks of the Office. It had been given very significant powers by the Oireachtas to enable it to do its job effectively. Over the years these powers had been used in an even-handed and informal way to the benefit of both complainants and public bodies alike. Many thousands of complainants had received a remedy to their complaints and public bodies had shown themselves willing to introduce new procedures to ensure that similar complaints did not arise again in the future.

Concluding, Ombudsman O´Reilly stated, “The Ombudsman complaints service is for everyone who needs it, to use free of charge. Since 1984 we have handled over 70,000 valid complaints and advised and guided many thousands of other people, where we could, whose problems lay outside our remit. The Lo-call number is 1890 22 30 30”.

Editors’ Note:

Visit runs from 2.30pm – 3.00pm

Photographs – contact Lensmen for event picturesList of attendees at today’s event

1. Ms. Emily O´Reilly, Ombudsman

2. Mr. Kevin Murphy, former Ombudsman and Information Commissioner and former Secretary-General, Public Service Management and Development at the Department of Finance.

3. Mrs. Brid Mills, widow of the first Ombudsman, Mr. Michael Mills R.I.P.

4. Ms. Frances Mills, daughter of Mrs. Brid Mills.

5. Mr. Pat Whelan, Director General of the Office of the Ombudsman.

6. Mr. Frank Goodman, currently, Chief Executive, Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland, and former Director General of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Four of the original staff members still serving in the Office:

7. Ms. Maureen Behan – Principal Officer / Senior Investigator.

8. Ms. Jacqueline Moore – Higher Executive Officer.

9. Mr. Fintan Butler – Principal Officer / Senior Investigator.

10. Mr. Matthew Merrigan – Assistant Principal / Investigator.

For media inquiries contact:

Dave Glynn - Head of Communications

Tel: 01 639 5714  / 087 236 1884

email: david_glynn@ombudsman.gov.ie

Our purpose is to help raise public service standards. Individuals, businesses or organisations who feel they have been unfairly treated can make complaints to the Ombudsman. Our service is free. We aim to ensure that people are treated with dignity, respect and sensitivity in their dealings with the public service. We will make every effort to deal with your complaint properly, fairly and impartially.

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