THE MINISTER for Defence, Willie O’Dea, has said discussions over the resources provided to the Office of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces are “ongoing” amid concern expressed by the ombudsman yesterday that she does not have enough resources to meet a significant increase in demand for her services.
According to the annual report of Paulyn Marrinan Quinn SC, published yesterday, her office dealt with almost three times as many complaints from both serving and former personnel last year as during its first full year of operation in 2006.
Significantly, a small number of of bullying and harassment complaints also featured for the first time last year.
Launching her second annual report in Dublin, Ms Marrinan Quinn highlighted the limited resources available to her office, and said there was a need for more funding to be made available.
This was supported yesterday by the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association, which expressed its disappointment at the situation.
Ms Marrinan Quinn said she had undertaken an internal capacity review of staffing and resources of her office last year, which was submitted to the department last summer. In it she sought additional staff and office accommodation.
She told reporters that the situation in relation to funding was “just very irritating”, and warned that the work of her office risked being undermined if she had to “go with a begging bowl” looking for resources.
A spokeswoman for Mr O’Dea said Ms Marrinan Quinn’s office has four staff located in Dublin, and said the Minister was “supportive of a request from the ombudsman to the OPW for alternative accommodation”.
“The ombudsman mentions that she has had initial discussions with the Department of Defence regarding the staff resources in her office. These discussions are ongoing.”
Despite its funding issues, Ms Marrinan Quinn said her office had still managed to issue either preliminary or final reports in response to “the majority of cases”.
According to the annual report, a total of 76 cases were referred to the ombudsman last year. This represented an increase of 192 per cent, although 15 of these were cases carried over from 2006.
Almost 40 per cent of cases related to non-selection for promotion, while a similar percentage related to other issues such as maladministration and “the implementation of changes”.
There were four allegations of bullying and harassment, representing 5 per cent of all cases.
The chief-of-staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Dermot Earley, said that while bullying and harassment would “always be an issue” in every walk of life it was “heartening” that the level of such cases referred to the ombudsman represented a tiny percentage of the overall membership of the Defence Forces.
Just over one in 10 of all cases referred to the ombudsman in 2007 came from female members of the Defence Forces.
In total, Ms Marrinan Quinn issued 39 preliminary reports and 29 final reports.
Cases were upheld in 20 of these final reports.
Last year also saw a growth in the use of the ombudsman’s office by more senior ranks within the Defence Forces, with 17 per cent of all cases emanating from the ranks of lieutenant or higher.
Ms Marrinan Quinn said that the increase in the number of complaints referred to her office was partly attributable to better awareness of the work of the office.