Shadow Minister of Immigration Walton Brown has called on Michael Fahy to apologise for comments he made about the Ombudsman.

However, Sylvan Richards, the Junior Minister of Home Affairs, said in a statement today that the One Bermuda Alliance rejects the suggestion that Sen Fahy was contemptuous of the Ombudsman.

Meanwhile Governor George Fergusson stressed the need for the Ombudsman to be respected — a position he said is shared by government ministers.

Earlier this year, Sen Fahy called a critical report concerning an immigration complaint a “farce”. The comments provoked concern from two overseas bodies, the Ombudsman Association and the International Ombudsman Institute.

In a statement this afternoon, Mr Brown said: “The simple fact is the attack by Sen Fahy on the office of the Ombudsman is unacceptable in a democratic society. We stand with the Ombudsman Association and the International Ombudsman Institute in support of the Bermuda Office of the Ombudsman.

“Our concern is not that Minister Fahy disagreed with the findings but rather the contemptuous dismissal of the work of the Ombudsman as ‘a farce’. We are further concerned that Premier Michael Dunkley has endorsed this sentiment by stating the Minister has his full support. As an office enshrined in the Bermuda Constitution, the Ombudsman has a fundamentally important role in helping to maintain good governance and holding public authorities to account.

“Sen Fahy’s emotional dismissal not only lacks political maturity; it also sends the unfortunate message that the OBA government does not respect the role of the Ombudsman. To comment earlier this week on the details of the specific case that raised the Minister’s ire misses the point entirely.

“As a lawyer, Sen Fahy will certainly know that there will be rulings made by Supreme Court judges he will not agree with, even vehemently. But he would never publicly dismiss the Supreme Court as ‘a farce.’ Why do it in this case?

“The appropriate next step for Sen Fahy is not retrenchment into an indefensible and intransigent position, but rather an unqualified apology for the tenor and tone of his comments. The appropriate step for Premier Dunkley is not a pat on the back for Minister Fahy. Rather, he needs to demonstrate such conduct is not acceptable for any minister in his cabinet.”

Mr Richards, however, responded to the statement by saying that the OBA rejects the suggestion that Sen Fahy “was contemptuous of the Ombudsman when he rejected some of her findings in a work permit case involving a Bermudian veterinarian some months ago”.

“Minister Fahy had strong objections to the Ombudsman’s report, and he expressed them forcefully, as is his right,” Mr Richards said. “He gave perfectly sound reasons for his disagreement.”

Mr Richards suggested Mr Brown read the Hansard report of the House of Assembly proceedings dated March 17, 2014, where “the leader of his party, MP Marc Bean, is discussing an Ombudsman’s report that criticised him, as the then Minister of the Environment, for failing to live up to an international treaty to which Bermuda is a signatory, in allowing development of Tucker’s Point to go ahead”.

Mr Richards added that Mr Bean, on the floor of the House of Assembly, accused the Ombudsman of the day, Arlene Brock, of “intellectual dishonesty and bias, getting her facts wrong and living in an ivory tower”.

“The Ombudsman also complained publicly that she was put under a great deal of pressure by three unnamed ‘high level’ officials to drop her investigation of the Tucker’s Point development,” Mr Richards said.

Responding in a statement, Mr Fergusson said: “It is not for me to comment on any individual cases. However, it is important that the office holder, who is the equivalent of a judge, should be properly respected at all times even if disagreements may arise from time to time. I know that this is also the firm view of ministers.”