Dr Niall Muldoon said he had been left “very angry” after a three-year row in which his office was asked to monitor the impact of the “zero tolerance” strategy on children, but never received the funding necessary to carry out the task. He described the outcome as “shameful” and requested that all references to his office be removed from the national plan.

The Department of Justice has now confirmed that the Ombudsman will have no role in monitoring the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV), The Irish Times reports.

Dr Muldoon was originally approached by the Government before the plan was launched in 2022 and invited to oversee the strategy’s impact on children’s rights. However, for the following three years, his office was caught in a bureaucratic deadlock, with the Department of Justice and the Department of Children each claiming the other was responsible for funding the role.

Correspondence released under freedom of information laws reveals repeated appeals from Dr Muldoon to then justice minister Helen McEntee. In one letter, he said the Ombudsman “did not seek” the position but that officials had been “very eager for us to take [it] up”.

By early 2023, Dr Muldoon requested that funding be secured by January 2024 – already 18 months after initial discussions – but said by October he had received “not one single reply” over the course of a year.

Despite “long, drawn-out engagement” between government officials, he wrote, “for the second budget in a row – your department has reneged on the promises given.”

He continued: “The actions of your department have been disrespectful of this office. However, my biggest concern and one that makes me very angry, is the impact this will have on the children who are being subjected to domestic or sexual and gender-based violence. These children have been let down. That is shameful behaviour.”

He has since asked for any mention of his office to be removed from the strategy, saying its name had been used “to offer credibility and substance to the actions in relation to children that are outlined in the strategy, but I cannot let that continue.”

He renewed his request for funding in January 2024, writing that “while discussions continue over who pays for what, it is the children impacted by domestic, sexual and gender-based violence who will suffer.”

In March, he contacted new justice minister, Jim O’Callaghan, seeking a meeting to discuss the funding of the monitoring role.

However, the Department of Justice has now confirmed that “it was not possible to reach agreement on the precise parameters of this policy advice role and the resources that would be required”.

The implementation plan for 2025–2026, launched last month, makes no mention of the Ombudsman or his office. The Department of Children, when asked about the situation, said the matter was “no longer relevant” as the Ombudsman is no longer part of the strategy.