Ombudsman (Ireland)

The Office of the Ombudsman in Ireland was set up under the terms of the Ombudsman Act 1980, as amended by the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012. The current Ombudsman is Peter Tyndall.

The Ombudsman is appointed by the President of Ireland upon the nomination of both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Ombudsman deals with complaints against providers of public services including Departments of State, local authorities, the HSE, publicly-funded third level education bodies, nursing homes and direct provision accommodation centres.

The Ombudmsman is ex-officio a member of three important statutory oversight bodies: the Commission for Public Service Appointments, the Referendum Commission and the Standards in Public Office Commission.

The Ombudsman's remit was greatly extended by The Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012 which brought approximately 200 additional public bodies under the scrutiny of the Ombudsman. The Act also designated the Ombudsman as Director (Chief Executive) of the Office of the Commission for Public Service Appointments. The Act was the first in a series of public service reform measures by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the other measures being the Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Act 2013, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, the Freedom of Information Act 2014, the Registration of Lobbyists Act 2015 and the Public Sector Standards Bill 2015.

In the 2012 Annual Report, the then Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly argued strongly for constitutional status to be conferred on the Office of the Ombudsman, with a constitutional guarantee of independence from the Government, similar to that enjoyed by the Comptroller and Auditor General. This appeal was reiterated by her successor, Peter Tyndall.

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