Dame Nuala O’Loan is the former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, responsible for the investigation of all complaints against the police. (Her term as Police Ombudsman finished on 5 November 2007.)
Dame Nuala O’Loan is a qualified solicitor and held the Jean Monnet Chair in European Law at the University of Ulster.
She has been: Chairman of the Northern Ireland Consumer Committee for Electricity; a Special Commissioner for the Commission for Racial Equality’s Formal Investigation into Racism in Policing in England and Wales, a Member of the Police Authority; Vice-Chair of the Police Authority’s Community Relations Committee; a Member of the Northern Health and Social Services Board; Convenor of the NHS Complaints System for the Northern Health and Social Services Board; a Member of the General Consumer Council, and Convenor of the Transport and Energy Group of that Council; and a Legal Expert Member of the European Commission’s Consumers Consultative Council. For seven years, Dame Nuala O’Loan was also a custody visitor to police stations
She has produced more than 50 articles and other publications on law, policing, faith and other issues. In the course of her work she has spoken widely at conferences, and in an advisory capacity to government agencies responsible for policing and police accountability, in Brazil, South Africa, USA, Canada, The Netherlands, The Republic of Ireland, Portugal and throughout the United Kingdom.
Dame Nuala O’Loan will be chairing our Human Rights Inquiry.