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Ombudsman Peter Tyndall
Peter Tyndall was elected to the IOI Board as European Director in 2012. He held the position of European Regional President for one year, until he was elected IOI 2nd Vice-President in 2014 and IOI President two years later; a position he held until May 2021.
Mr Tyndall’s contribution to the affairs of the IOI has been outstanding right from the beginning. When he was elected to the IOI Board of Directors, he took on the very important project of electoral reform and saw it through until its recent implementation. With this reform, all Voting members in good standing can now elect the Officers of the IOI (i.e. President, Vice-Presidents and Treasurer) by electronic means, thus making the IOI and the election of its governing body more democratic and transparent in the future.
Throughout his career, Peter was highly committed to the Ombudsman concept and to promoting the IOI and its mission, principles and services. He was dedicated to the establishment of internationally recognized universal standards for Ombudsman institutions and he contributed significantly to the development of the Council of Europe’s “Principles for the Protection and Promotion of the Ombudsman Institution”, which are now better known as the Venice Principles. As Chair of the IOI’s UN Working Group, Peter worked tirelessly to make sure that the Venice Principles were strongly endorsed in the amended version of the UN Resolution on the “Role of Ombudsman and Mediator Institutions in the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, Good Governance and the Rule of Law”, (adopted in December 2020). The international recognition of these universal standards was an important step to strengthen independent and autonomous Ombudsman offices around the world.
Peter Tyndall and his office in Ireland hosted the 12th IOI World Conference and General Assembly. Peter showed a high level of personal commitment, as well as great flexibility and readiness for organizational change, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to postpone the event for an entire year and – eventually – hold online events instead in May 2021.
Peter’s exceptional leadership and the exceptional and outstanding services, which he offered to the IOI throughout his term in office, has taken our organization along a very successful path and ensured that the IOI has become a respected international body.
“Not only is Peter an exceptional warm and collegiate person, but he was an extremely distinguished President, who transformed the IOI to what it is today. IOI Life Membership is an honour rarely given and no one is more worthy than our former President, esteemed colleague and good friend, Peter Tyndall”, said IOI President Chris Field.
On 15 November 2021 the IOI Board of Directors therefore approved by acclamation that Mr Peter Tyndall will be awarded IOI Honorary Life Membership. Mr Tyndall will resign from the office of the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner of Ireland on 31 December 2021.
