O’Reilly lashes exclusion of prisons

The ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, has criticised the continuing exclusion of the oversight of prisons and immigration issues from the remit of her office.

Ms O’Reilly said the omission of such important areas of the Department of Justice was an “anomalous situation” that was virtually unique among ombudsmen internationally.

In her last official speech before she takes up the role of EU ombudsman on Monday, Ms O’Reilly told the Oireachtas committee on public service oversight and petitions that Justice Minister Alan Shatter had introduced a mechanism for dealing with complaints relating to prisons last November.

However, she noted that the Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Kelly, had, in a recent report, voiced concern that the procedures only allowed for investigation of the most serious type of complaints, including assaults and intimidation.

Ms O’Reilly said the judge had called for a robust complaints procedure to be introduced that would allow other, less serious complaints to be investigated, as well as for an urgent amendment of existing legislation to strengthen his own investigatory powers.

“This suggests to me that there is much work to be done in relation to bringing in a fully effective and comprehensive prisoner complaints system,” said Ms O’Reilly.

She also criticised delays by the justice minister in bringing in legislation promised in 2010 to create a statutory appeals system for asylum seekers.

She had warned that the system of direct provision created a real risk of child abuse in hostels where asylum seekers are housed with no right to work.

Ms O’Reilly said the lack of an independent inspection system of the direct provision system was an issue “hiding in plain sight”.

She referred to a recent court case in the North where a judge refused to return a group of asylum seekers, who had originally applied for asylum here, back across the border because he was not satisfied it was in the best interests of their children.

Ms O’Reilly said the judge’s comment were “telling in itself” about the inadequacies of the facilities for asylum seekers in the Republic.

Members of the committee paid tribute to Ms O’Reilly’s work over the past decade and wished her well on her new role. People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett described the former journalist as “a fearless champion of people’s rights” who would be a hard act to follow.

Ms O’Reilly predicted that the number of complaints made to the ombudsman would continue to be significant given the extension of her office’s remit to 180 extra bodies in May, including all publicly funded third-level education bodies as well as the ongoing pressure on the resources of all public services.

She claimed the great regret of her time as Ombudsman was the failure to get redress for a family whose application for funding under the lost at sea scheme was turned down by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food.

The department refused to act on a recommendation contained into a report by the ombudsman to pay compensation to the family.

However, Ms O’Reilly vowed to make one more attempt in her last days in office to write to Taoiseach Enda Kenny “to see if something could be done for the family”.