OMBUDSMAN EMILY O’Reilly has expressed frustration that her repeated requests to have the remit of her office extended to cover the asylum and naturalisation process have been rejected by Government.
She has complained that she lacks the jurisdiction of her European Union counterparts in this area.
“I have been asking for the remit to be extended in relation to asylum seekers and naturalisation issues. All my EU colleagues have that. I’ve consistently been told no, my remit will not be extended into that area,” she said. “It’s a source of frustration to me that this has not been acted on.”
Ms O’Reilly was speaking at the official launch in Dublin yesterday of the Women’s Health Council report, Translating Pain Into Action: A Study of Gender-Based Violence and Minority Ethnic Women in Ireland.
She said she wanted to monitor the administration of the asylum and naturalisation process rather than become involved in the final decisions in individual cases.
“An ombudsman does not seek to overturn decisions which are a matter for the appropriate authorities, including the courts, but to ensure that the process has been followed correctly and fairly.”
Ms O’Reilly said her proposal was supported by the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg, who delivered a report on Ireland last year.
Mr Hammarberg noted that the ombudsman had actively sought an extension to her mandate “and is one of the few ombudsman offices in Europe being restricted in these matters”. He recommended “closing current protection gaps, with particular reference to the remits of the ombudsman and the Ombudsman for Children”.
In its response to his report, the Government said the remit of the ombudsman was being expanded “significantly” in legislation updating the Ombudsman Act 1980, “although there are no proposals to include the asylum/immigration area”. A spokesman for the Department of Finance yesterday said this remained the position.
He said the Ombudsman Amendment Bill 2008 was going to committee stage towards the end of March. Meanwhile, Ms O’Reilly said the findings of the Women’s Health Council report should be taken on board by legislators and policymakers.
The report found Traveller women represented 15 per cent of users of “gender-based violence” services, while migrant women represented 13 per cent.
Ms O’Reilly said this prompted feelings of “powerlessness, fear, confusion and shame, feelings all too well known to previous generations of indigenous Irishwomen, and that culture of secrecy and shame must stop for our newly -arrived sisters as well.”
