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40 Years of the Ombudsman: Commemorative Book
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To mark 40 years of the Office, the Ombudsman has published a book looking back on 40 key cases and investigations about public bodies that the Office carried out since it was established in 1984.
The book details the history and importance of the Ombudsman, but the cases also reflect the social history of Ireland over the last 40 years. The Ombudsman's Office has helped to rectify a broad range of unfairness and exclusion in Ireland over that time including:
- the abolition of the convention of dependent domicile in 1986. (This meant that a wife was regarded as having the same ‘residence’ as her husband even if he was living abroad. This resulted in women, whose husbands had deserted them and lived outside Ireland, being denied social welfare benefits as the women were regarded as living abroad, even though they actually lived in Ireland).
- the lack of maternity leave for adoptive mothers in 1992
- unfair treatment of co-habiting couples (particularly in relation to the Drug Subsidisation scheme which subsidised the costs of essential medicines). (See page 44)
- the practice of denying disabled person’s grants to people over 70 years of age. 1990. (See page 33)
- full implementation of the Magdalen Restorative Justice Scheme. 2017. (See page 90)
The Ombudsman’s Office is a State body set up in 1984 and investigates complaints from people who feel they have been unfairly treated by public bodies such as the HSE, a government department or a local authority. The Ombudsman receives around 4,500 complaints each year. The Ombudsman’s Office is impartial and independent of government.
The current Ombudsman is Ger Deering. Previous holders of the Office include Emily O’Reilly, Peter Tyndall and Kevin Murphy. The first Ombudsman was former journalist Michael Mills
The commemorative book - The Ombudsman: 40 Years of Driving Fairness in the Delivery of Public Services is now available for free download below.
