Three individuals have held the position of Ombudsman since the office was established in 1984: Michael Mills 1984-1994; Kevin Murphy 1994-2003;and Emily O'Reilly 2003-2013.
Emily O'Reilly (2003 - 2013)
Emily O'Reilly served as Ireland's Ombudsman and Information Commissioner from 2003 until 2013, when she was elected European Ombudsman by the European Parliament.
Ms O'Reilly was also an ex-officio member of the Standards in Public Office Commission, the Referendum Commission, the Constituency Commission and the Commission for Public Service Appointments. In May 2007, following the introduction of the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations which transposed Directive 2003/4/EC into Irish law, Ms O'Reilly was assigned the additional role of Commissioner for Environmental Information.
Prior to her initial appointment as Ombudsman and Information Commissioner in June 2003, Ms O'Reilly was an accomplished journalist and author whose roles included many years as a political correspondent with prominent print and broadcasting media. She is a native of Tullamore, Co Offaly and is married with five children. Ms O'Reilly is a graduate of University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. She was also the recipient of a Niemann Fellowship in Journalism at Harvard University, Cambridge, U.S.A. In December 2008 Ms O'Reilly was awarded a Doctor of Laws by the National University of Ireland in recognition of her contribution to public service and to human rights.
Kevin Murphy (1994 - 2003)
Kevin Murphy was Ireland’s second Ombudsman, serving two terms from 1994 until 2003. Prior to his appointment as Ombudsman, Mr. Murphy was Secretary General in charge of the public service at the Department of Finance. He was also Chairman of the Top Level Appointments Committee which advises the Government on appointments to the very top levels of the Irish civil service
In addition to his role as Ombudsman, Mr. Murphy was the Chairman of the Public Offices Commission (set up under the Ethics in Public Office Act, 1995) and a member of both the Constituency Commission and of the Referendum Commission (when established). He was also appointed Information Commissioner when the Freedom of Information Act, 1997 came into force on 21 April 1998.
Kevin Murphy died on 6 March 2012 at the age of 75, following an illness.
Emily O’Reilly, (Ombudsman 2003-2013) said of Mr. Murphy; "Building on the work of the first Ombudsman, the late Michael Mills, Kevin moved to instil good practices in all of the public bodies the Office dealt with. He developed principles of good administration, complaint handling and customer service and, in doing so, helped to focus the attention of public officials on the needs of the people they served, rather than on the interests of the public bodies themselves.
Michael Mills (1984 - 1994)
Ireland's first Ombudsman, Michael Mills, served from 1984 to 1994. Mr. Mills was a widely respected political correspondent with the Irish Press for more than 20 years prior to his appointment as Ombudsman. He took up office in 1984 after being appointed as Ireland's first Ombudsman by President Patrick Hillery. He served two terms before retiring in 1994 at the age of 67.
During his ten years as Ombudsman Mr Mills handled and investigated thousands of public complaints about Government departments, local authorities and health boards.
In his final Annual Report, that for the year 1993, Michael Mills reviewed the previous 10 years and emphasised that the Office of the Ombudsman is now accepted and recognised by all as an independent agency which impartially examines complaints and which takes every possible step to have cases of genuine grievance resolved. He pointed out that the Office had succeeded in resolving many thousands of complaints, most of which would never have been resolved without its existence. He also pointed to the significant changes in our legislative and administrative system to which he and the Office had contributed.
Michael Mills died at the age of 80 on 13 April 2008, after a short illness