Ombudsmen play a crucial role in ensuring the equality and human rights of citizens are respected, the Minister for Foreign Affairs claimed today.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern
Mr Ahern said it was important that people everywhere could aspire to fair treatment by State institutions.
The Dundalk TD told the British and Irish Ombudsman Association in Dublin Castle that co-operation was deepening between the Republic and Northern Ireland on equality issues.
"The Irish Government, for its part, committed itself in the Good Friday Agreement to further strengthening the protection of human rights in the South and to ensuring at least an equivalent level of protection of human rights as in the North.
The Agreement established the Human Rights Commissions in Dublin and Belfast.
After appointing its first Ombudsman in 1984, Ireland now had a Pensions Ombudsman, an Ombudsman for Children, a Financial Services Ombudsman, and, most recently, a Defence Forces Ombudsman.
The new Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission will be set up by early 2007.
The Minister praised the work of Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan who he said had transformed the policing landscape in the North.
He said it was a tribute to Mrs O'Loan, that in such a politically charged environment, confidence in the impartiality of her office has grown to a remarkable 78 per cent of the public, almost equally spread across the two communities.
Mr Ahern urged everybody to support the work of the PSNI and policing boards.