Foreword.
A fair society means everyone should have equal access to justice and the redress it can provide, and the office of the ombudsperson is recognised as a key institution in addressing and providing equal access to justice for all, depending on the remedy sought.
Increasingly ombudspersons provide a route for an individual to seek both resolution from, and accountability for, public bodies and their decision making. However, it remains the case that for some the barriers and challenges they will face, even in accessing the complaints system and thereafter the ombudsperson are much more significant. Since becoming Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman I have made it a priority to ensure that the services of the office are accessible and available and to address barriers that may be faced by particular groups. While Northern Ireland is the most diverse it has ever been; it is also the case that we are the least diverse part of the UK. The experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland and the difficulties they faced in accessing public services was raised directly with my office by civil society groups. In particular, a change in policy around dispersal and the provision of accommodation via hotels had led to an increase in concerns. My office did not have complaints from this group of citizens and knew that they were unlikely to access the complaints process. While some of the issues were about accessing public services in Northern Ireland some were linked to the Home Office. In April 2023 my colleague, Rob Behrens, the then Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, undertook a number of joint visits with me to hear directly from asylum seekers and refugees on the difficulties they faced. My office had previously worked collaboratively with both Professor Gill and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, Rosemary Agnew, on addressing vulnerability across the population and it seemed to me that becoming a refugee and seeking asylum brings with it an inherent vulnerability. I also knew that different ombudsperson institutions, internationally, had developed programmes and strands of work to address the complexity of the barriers and the vulnerability this creates. I was therefore delighted when Professor Gill suggested this as a collaboration to enable both my office and public bodies in Northern Ireland to access international learning. I am particularly grateful to the British Academy for providing the funding to enable this to happen. I am also grateful to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the International Ombudsman Institute and to ombudspersons and their offices internationally for so generously sharing their learning and experiences.
I would also wish to thank the civil society groups who raised issues and concerns with me and participated fully in the research and the public servants in Northern Ireland who participated willingly, shared their policies and approaches and were open to learning. I particularly want to thank those asylum seekers and refugees who shared their experiences, many of which were difficult and traumatic and entrusted those to us. There is much in this research for public bodies to consider and address. However, there is also much for me and my office to consider. I thank Professor Gill for his work and welcome his recommendations for NIPSO. I will seek to take these forward over the remaining few years of my term as part of my commitment to inclusion and accessibility for all people in Northern Ireland.
Margaret Kelly NI Public Services Ombudsman
Final report of the of Ombudspersons and the Protection of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (OPRAS) project | 5
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