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that is because parliament is the only body in a democratic system which is
the potential ally of the ombudsman whose to hold government to account
and therefore the capacity to be able to hold government to account needs
inevitably the ultimate recourse to public body that has the constitutional,
legal and political authority to be able to support the ombudsman in his or
her recommendations. So, it is an extraordinarily delicate and important
relationship. And Peter already pointed to the problems which have arisen
in the past in Ireland when such problems come up. This is an issue happens
across the board in many countries the stronger the tradition of rule of
law fewer the examples of this on the part of the government. And before
he became ombudsman of Ireland Peter Tyndall was the ombudsman of
Wales and therefore was operating in the legal and political jurisdiction of
the United Kingdom. In that jurisdiction the previous ombudsman of the
United Kingdom, Ann Abraham also brought into a very serious conflict
with the government of a similar kind of scheme which had to do with an
insurance company called Equitable Life and her recommendations was
that the government had mishandled that and resulted in very significant
losses for very many citizens and the government fiercely resisted her
recommendations, it also resulted in similar kind of circumstances so it is
important to appreciate the importance of parliament as a vital ally of the
ombudsman.
That therefore means raises an issue which Peter did not raised because 3 rd INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTIONS
it is not part of his paper but it also a critical issue which is what is the
role of the ombudsman if any in overseeing parliament? In most European
Union member states the ombudsman does not have the authority in fact
in anyway exercise control of the parliament. Strangely enough in the
European Union legal order the European ombudsman has been given that
particular right and my experience was that this is a right which creates
more problems than it solves, precisely because if you go to your strongest
ally and you exercise a control of that ally the chances are that this ally
maybe unhappy with you and express this unhappiness in other ways
down the road when a problem arises. So, it is something that I just simply
signal to say that practice and my experience and experience from the
European Union certainly suggests that given the right to the ombudsman
to exercise control of a parliament although it sounds wonderful and
democratic carries with it significant potential problems. Precisely because
the relationship with parliament ought to be very strongly defended and
upheld.

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