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Annual Report of the Ombudsman 2000

Chapter One - Introduction

Introduction

This Report covers the final ten months of my first term as Ombudsman and also the first two months of my second term. I was reappointed by Her Excellency, Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, with effect from 1 November 2000 following resolutions, passed by Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, recommending my appointment.

In Chapter Two I highlight a number of issues arising from complaints which are being examined by my Office. Chief among these is the difficulty I experience in examining local authority planning complaints in the current building boom. Coincidentally, the other issues which I raise in this Chapter also refer to local authorities.

In Chapter Three, entitled "The Ombudsman, the Law and the Citizen - a Values-based Approach, I reassess, in the light of what is referred to as the modernisation programme for the Irish public service, the role which the Office of the Ombudsman among others plays in supporting citizens in their interactions with the State. At the heart of the modernisation programme is the achievement of a fundamental change in public service bodies. Traditionally, these were highly centralised, rule-bound and inflexible and the task is to make them more adaptable and responsive to changing needs and demands. This will involve putting more emphasis on performance at both individual, team and organisation levels to achieve better outcomes and outputs. I attempt to assess the implications of these changes in the light of developments in administrative law by considering not only citizens' rights but also the values which underlie the relationship which the State should have with citizens. I also present accounts of some complaints which are relevant to these themes.

Chapter Four includes a more general range of cases which my Office dealt with during 2000 and Chapters Five and Six outline the details of the work of the Office together with statistical data and analysis of cases handled in 2000.

I am very grateful to my staff for their hard work and commitment throughout the year. I also wish to express my thanks to my Director General, Pat Whelan and to Tom Morgan and John Doyle for their work in the preparation of this Annual Report.

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