Ombudsman office celebrates 25 years

The Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly met with President Mary McAleese in Áras an Uachtaráin today to mark the 25th-anniversary of the office.

First suggested in 1969 following the publication of the Devlin Report into the Public Service the post of Ombudsman did not come about until an all-party committee recommended its establishment in the mid-1970s and the government finally passed legislative framework in 1983.

Speaking after the passing of the Ombudsman Act the then minister for the public service John Boland said the office “will provide a direct link between people and the legislature”.

“Not only will he provide a means for the remedy of grievances about administrative actions but he will also help us as legislators to become more aware of the effects of the legislation which we enact.”

The office was eventually established in January 1984 with the appointment of Michael Mills, a former political correspondent for the Irish Press, by the then president, Dr Patrick Hillery.

Mr Mills remained in the post for ten years before he was succeeded by Kevin Murphy in November 1994.

At the ceremony today Ms O’Reilly said in its 25 years the office has contributed much to Irish society and public administration.

She said: “Since 1984 we have handled over 70,000 valid complaints and advised and guided many thousands of other people, where we could, whose problems lay outside our remit.

"Many thousands of complainants had received a remedy to their complaints and public bodies had shown themselves willing to introduce new procedures to ensure that similar complaints did not arise again in the future.”

Ms O’Reilly was accompanied today by Brid Mills, widow of the Michael Mills, and former ombudsman Kevin Murphy.