The Ombudsman, Mr Kevin Murphy, has called for wider powers to address human rights issues. He also suggests that commercial companies like Telecom Eireann have valid concerns about being open to scrutiny by his office when there is no Ombudsman to investigate customer complaints against their private-sector competitors.
Mr Murphy said he would be issuing a separate report soon on the activities of his office in his new capacity as commissioner under the Freedom of Information Act. In its first nine months there had been 3,000 requests for information from Government Departments and 300 appeals.
At the publication of the 1998 Ombudsman's report yesterday, Mr Murphy said 15 years after the office's establishment was a good time to take stock. There was change and new legislation.
The issue of human rights was becoming more pressing because, under the Belfast Agreement, he would have a joint responsibility with the Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Mr Gerry Burns, in a number of these areas. Almost uniquely within the EU, Mr Murphy said, he was precluded from dealing with complaints in areas like the penal system and the law relating to refugees, asylum-seekers, citizenship and naturalisation.
"It does seem to me that somebody will have to deal with complaints in these areas," he said.
He said he hoped new legislation allowing him to investigate complaints about the non-commercial semi-State companies would come into force by the year's end. There were no plans, as yet, for him to investigate commercial semi-State companies.
It was a historical anomaly that he had responsibility for Telecom Eireann and An Post, as they were part of the old Department of Posts and Telegraphs when his office was established. However, he said they had a valid argument when they asked why they were subject to scrutiny when their private-sector competitors were not.
Turning to his existing areas of responsibility, he said there was still widespread ignorance of the role of his office. Outside the area of social welfare complaints, middle-class people tended to refer complaints to him more than disadvantaged groups.
There was also significantly greater awareness of his office in rural areas. A recent day clinic at Swords, Co Dublin, had only attracted 11 complaints, where one in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, had attracted 80.
But even business people were ignorant of the scope of the Ombudsman's powers in areas like the awarding of licences and grants, or the operation of statutory regulations. They were often unaware that his office could award unlimited sums for damages sustained as a result of errors by public bodies.