Mel McWeeney
Mel McWeeney
Refusal to facilitate rebuttal
Refs: OF/COM/004/02 (Office of the Ombudsman -Data Protection request). L30/13/1772 (Office of the Ombudsman -Case number)
Dear Aidan, Aidan Moore Aidan Moore aidan.moore@ombudsman.gov.ie info@lobbying.ie (01) 6395711 (087) 9175186 (01) 639 5684 https://twitter.com/aidanmmoore81 https://twicopy.org/aidanmmoore81/ https://www.lobbying.ie/ https://twitter.com/LobbyingIE Peter Tyndall Peter Tyndall Peter Tyndall Office of the Ombudsman Irish Office of the Ombudsman The Irish Ombudsman Office of the Information Commissioner Standards in Public Office Commission http://ombudsman.gov.ie/ https://twitter.com/officeombudsman https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-of-the-ombudsman-ireland Investigates complaints about public officials. 18 Lower Leeson Street Dublin D02 HE97 Ireland (1890)253238 (01)6395689 (01)6395674 (01)6395676 Dáil Éireann The Government of Ireland Kildare Street Dublin Ireland
I am very conscious of the impetus on me to make my final statements ahead of the appeal, and that this is my final opportunity to do so. It would appear that I will be compelled to do so blindfolded, without the very report that caused the earlier adverse decision.
Ironically, the most recent letterhead from your office Peter Tyndall Peter Tyndall Office of the Ombudsman Irish Office of the Ombudsman The Irish Ombudsman Office of the Information Commissioner Standards in Public Office Commission http://ombudsman.gov.ie/ https://twitter.com/officeombudsman https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-of-the-ombudsman-ireland Investigates complaints about public officials. 18 Lower Leeson Street Dublin D02 HE97 Ireland (1890)253238 (01)6395689 (01)6395674 (01)6395676 Dáil Éireann The Government of Ireland Kildare Street Dublin Ireland boasts "30 years putting it right", while frustratingly at the same time, not only denying me access under Data Protection, but providing no confirmation of which precise entity Longford County Council http://longfordcoco.ie/ Longford County Council Great Water Street Longford Co. Longford N39 NH56 Ireland 043 3343000 Longford Sports and Leisure http://longfordsportsandleisure.ie/ County Longford Sports and Leisure Centre Public Sports Facility The Mall Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3346536 043 3346431 longfordsportscentre@eircom.net http://longfordsportsandleisure.ie/other/images/building_sm.jpg 1 Longford County Library Longford County Library Longford County Library Town Centre Longford Co. Longford Ireland 043 3340727 library@longfordcoco.ie http://www.longfordlibrary.ie/ https://www.facebook.com/longfordlibraries/ https://twitter.com/Longfordlibrary https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVa8Z_ohzcuhS530lvJRtng https://vimeo.com/longfordlibrary submitted it. This comes afoot of an earlier refusal under Freedom of Information.
The issue here is not the seniority of a case worker. Danny Smith Danny Smith danny.smith@ombudsman.gov.ie Peter Tyndall Peter Tyndall Peter Tyndall Office of the Ombudsman Irish Office of the Ombudsman The Irish Ombudsman Office of the Information Commissioner Standards in Public Office Commission http://ombudsman.gov.ie/ https://twitter.com/officeombudsman https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-of-the-ombudsman-ireland Investigates complaints about public officials. 18 Lower Leeson Street Dublin D02 HE97 Ireland (1890)253238 (01)6395689 (01)6395674 (01)6395676 Dáil Éireann The Government of Ireland Kildare Street Dublin Ireland Due diligence alone should have been sufficient to come to the correct conclusion. Information available during the examination detailed how one of the complainants against me refused to shake my hand following the slightest of accidental contact, yet this appears to have been counted against me. I recall that earlier, a "Pre-stage 3" letter was issued in order to force a response. Subsequently, the council claimed that this entire issue was outside the scope of this office. This is not the behavior of a council with nothing to hide.
It hasn't escaped my attention either, that from the moment that report arrived at your offices, attitudes changed immediately. I must reiterate that the content is entirely unsubstantiated, and can only conclude that it is entirely false. For that reason I DO NOT accept the conclusions in Andrew Patterson's letter of 17 April 2014, and have appealed the decision to the Data Protection Commissioner Office of the Data Protection Commissioner Irish Data Protection Commissioner http://dataprotection.ie/ Investigates complaints about misuse of data Station Road Portarlington Co. Laois Ireland as suggested.
Natural justice would demand, irrespective of legal compulsion, that I have access to the report I'm expected to rebut. Should this Office be interested in establishing the truth, surely this should be conceded, particularly given it's adverse effect to date. Having read the main provisions of the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012, I don't rule out requesting certain points of quoted law to be referred to the High Court for determination.
What I've experienced is pure discrimination, and has nothing to do with "incidents". Had it occurred due to membership of a named category of society, legal redress would have been greatly simplified. This originated from malicious individuals, not all of whose identities are known to me yet.
Irrespective of the outcome of my efforts to obtain this report, I have two remaining pieces of correspondence to submit prior to the appeal. One of these will be details of Garda deployment against me, the other will be my account of events. For the reasons outlined above, I will withhold these submissions until a final decision on the report has been received.