The Information Commissioner and Commissioner for Environmental Information, Peter Tyndall, launched his Annual Report for 2015. This is the eighteenth report since the Office was founded in 1998 and the Commissioner's third since taking up Office.

On 12 and 13 May 2016 IOI Secretary General Günther Kräuter attended the Annual Meeting and Conference of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association in Dublin and signed a Memorandum of Understanding. 

The Public Defender's April information bulletin offers information about the Office activities, including the developed recommendations and proposals, involvement in the legislative process, educational and training seminars, and information meetings in the regions, Public Defender's international visits and international stories about the protection of human rights.

Ombudsman Peter Tyndall has welcomed the recommendation by Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Reilly, that the Ombudsman be given the powers to investigate complaints from prisoners. Judge Reilly was speaking at ‘The Ombudsman behind Bars’ conference in Dublin on Thursday 12 May. The conference heard that Ireland is breaching human rights by not allowing adult prisoners have their complaints independently investigated.

 

 

The Ombudsman, Ms Connie Lau, today (May 12) invited members of the public to provide information and/or views on the regulation by the Education Bureau (EDB) of application fees collected by kindergartens.

Children are full-fledged holders of rights. They are beneficiaries of all human and fundamental rights and subjects of special regulations, given their specific characteristics. This handbook aims to illustrate how European law and case law accommodate the specific interests and needs of children.

Following an electronic ballot carried out by the IOI General Secretariat in April 2016, Mr Yung-hoon Sung, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) Korea, was elected to the IOI Board of Directors.

The report highlights cases investigated by the Ombudsman service where people have been discharged from hospital before they are fit to leave or without making sure they can cope on their return home.