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Annual Report of the Ombudsman 2004

Chapter 4 - Twentieth Anniversary Conference

Twentieth Anniversary Conference

This year marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman. As part of the celebrations to mark the event I hosted a day-long conference in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin on 15 October 2004. The conference was chaired by the well known journalist Olivia O’Leary. The theme of the conference was “Accountability, Good Governance and the Ombudsman”.

Among the audience of over 100 people were representatives of senior management from a large number of public bodies as well as distinguished guests from other Ombudsman and regulatory offices at home and abroad. Members of the judiciary and the academic world were also in attendance along with my staff.

Mr Dick Roche, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government led off the first session of the conference with a talk on “Accountability in the Irish Public Service”. Minister Roche spoke of his personal commitment to and support for the work of the Office. He highlighted the benefits that a strong, independent and well resourced Ombudsman’s office can have, not only for an individual who has suffered at the hands of a public body, but also how the public body can benefit as a result of systemic failures being identified through the Ombudsman’s intervention.

Minister Roche was followed by Ms Ann Abraham, UK Parliamentary Ombudsman and Health Service Ombudsman for England who spoke on the topic “Good Governance from a UK Ombudsman’s Perspective”. Among the themes she explored was the relationship her Office had with Parliament and with individual members of Parliament.

Dr Tom Frawley, Commissioner for Complaints and Assembly Ombudsman for Northern Ireland presented a paper on “The Ombudsman and the Northern Ireland Assembly”. He outlined difficulties faced by his Office due to the political uncertainty caused by the collapse of the Assembly. He also highlighted the challenges posed for all Ombudsman offices in seeking to reach out to and support the most marginalised members of society such as the homeless and the mentally ill.

Mr Eddie Sullivan, Secretary General, Public Service Management and Development in the Department of Finance spoke on "Promoting Higher Standards of Public Administration”. He expressed the view that while standards of service are continually being improved, he felt that the Ombudsman’s Office would continue to be in demand as improvements in service delivery are normally matched by increased expectations on the part of the public using those services.

The afternoon session began with a thought provoking presentation by Donncha O’Connell, Barrister and Lecturer in Law at the Faculty of Law, NUI, Galway. He spoke on the topic “Refugees and Immigrants: Fair and Sound Administration?”. He acknowledged the issue of immigration was one of the major public policy issues of concern to most western European states and he characterised the response of different countries to the challenge as spanning “a spectrum from the benign to the brutal”. He made the point that unlike many Ombudsman offices abroad the Office of the Ombudsman in Ireland does not have jurisdiction in the area of asylum and immigration.

The conference concluded with a lively and informative panel discussion with many contributions from the audience. I was joined on the panel by Ann Abraham, Dr Tom Frawley and Kevin Murphy, former Ombudsman and Information Commissioner. Many of the issues which were debated had been touched on in a number of the presentations during the day and included:

• The need to put the Office of the Ombudsman on a constitutional footing as is the case with the Comptroller and Auditor General. This was recommended by the Constitution Review Group in 1996.
• The concern about the proliferation of Ombudsman offices and the widespread use of the term in situations where the term is not appropriate, leading to an undermining of its status and confusion among the public. It was noted that in New Zealand it is illegal to use the term without the permission of Parliament.
• The need to pass the long awaited legislation on the extension of the Ombudsman’s remit as soon as possible. A commitment was given in the Dáil as far back as 1997 to pass the legislation at an early date.

I was most grateful to all the speakers for the time and the effort they put into their contributions which resulted in an informative, reflective and stimulating event. The proceedings of the conference have been published in a special anniversary booklet. It can be viewed on my Office’s website

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