Ombudsman says office should be given constitutional status

Public confidence in the system of government and the operation of State agencies would be enhanced if the ombudsman was given constitutional status on a par with the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner, Peter Tyndall, said yesterday

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"Public confidence in oversight institutions is enhanced when they are clearly independent of the bodies in their jurisdiction," he told the conference, Held to Account: responsibility and accountability in the public sector, in the Institute of Public Administration on Lansdowne Road, Dublin, yesterday.

Noting that he was appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Oireachtas and that his office reported to the Oireachtas and not to the Government, Mr Tyndall said this independence would be enhanced by constitutional protection.

“Constitutional status would serve to reinforce the independence and offer further reassurance to members of the public that their complaint will be dealt with on its merits, and that the people making disputed decisions will not themselves be able to dictate or influence the outcome,” he said.

He said there should be a single, online access point, or portal, for all public sector complaints and a uniform approach by the State and all its agencies in responding to complaints.

“Introducing a standard approach to complaint handling across the public sector, setting out clear timescales, standards for responses, a common approach to redress and, above all, a focus on tackling most dissatisfaction at the time it arises can bring real dividends,” he said.

Noting that the State was committed, through the European Union, to providing an “alternative dispute resolution (ADR)” system for citizens querying provision of services, he questioned how such a system could adapt where services regarded as public services were contracted by the State to a private company.

He cited transport and water as services a citizen would regard as public but which might be provided through a private sector company.

“Some companies, such as Irish Water, provide services that were once within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman but no longer are,” he said. “Under the EU ADR directive, all of the networked services, including post, electricity, gas, public transport and telecoms have to come within the jurisdiction of an ADR entity.

“I believe they should come within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman to offer a one-stop approach to redress for public services.”

Speaking earlier, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said that strengthening accountability within the public service “ultimately means better outcomes for citizens”.