Seymour Crawford
Question:61 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Defence if a decision has been taken regarding the appointment of an ombudsman for the Defence Forces. [17585/00]
Written Answers. - Defence Forces Ombudsman.
As I have indicated to the House on previous occasions, the question of the appointment of an ombudsman for the Defence Forces has been raised by PDFORRA under the conciliation and arbitration scheme for the Permanent Defence Force. The terms of the scheme, which have been agreed with the association, provide that discussions at conciliation and arbitration are confidential to the parties involved. Accordingly, the Deputy will appreciate that it would not be appropriate for me to comment in detail on this issue.
However, I can say that in the course of ongoing discussions between my Department and PDFORRA, the association, notwithstanding the existing complaints procedures, identified the question of the appointment of an ombudsman for the Defence Forces as an issue which they wished to have addressed. The appointment of a legislative ombudsman was agreed in principle in the course of these discussions and I expect that the detail of the remit of an ombudsman will be finalised with both RACO and PDFORRA by the end of this year.