The office of the NI Ombudsman, now known as the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO), was first established in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...
in 1969.
The role of an independent
ombudsman was originally created as a response to the
Northern Ireland civil rights movement
The Northern Ireland civil rights movement dates to the early 1960s, when a number of initiatives emerged in Northern Ireland which challenged the inequality and discrimination against ethnic Irish Catholics that was perpetrated by the Ulster Pr ...
, and complaints of institutional bias and discrimination in the areas of housing and jobs.
Among the office's governing statutes were the Commissioner for Complaints Act (Northern Ireland) 1969, and the later Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 and Commissioner for Complaints (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. In April 2016, under the Public Services Ombudsman Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, the Office of Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) was established to consolidate the former offices of Assembly Ombudsman and Commissioner for Complaints into a single office. The act also expanded the functions of the newly consolidated office.
The ombudsman's function is to investigate complaints about most public services in Northern Ireland. The complainant must usually have exhausted the complaints process of the public body first. The Ombudsman may look at complaints about health care, social care, education, housing, local and central government, and on the clinical judgment of health and social care professionals.
Previous holders of the office have included
Stephen McGonagle,
Jill McIvor,
,
Maurice Hayes,
Tom Frawley,
and Marie Anderson.
Since mid-2020, the ombudsman has been Margaret Kelly.
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.nipso.org.uk/
Ombudsmen in Northern Ireland
Ombudsman posts