The European Union Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has turned down a complaint from a Northern Ireland human rights organisation over the issue of how EU and Good Friday Agreement rights are being handled in the Brexit negotiations.
However, she said she had "great sympathy" for the concerns of Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland regarding the consequences of Brexit.
In a letter, Ms O’Reilly said the complaint was "political" in nature, and was not within her mandate.
The response was sent to the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) which lodged the complaint on 20 September.
The organisation had complained that the European Commission had effectively watered down commitments to the preservation of EU and Good Friday Agreement rights that were given in the Joint Report deal struck by the EU and UK last December.
In a letter, seen by RTÉ News, Ms O’Reilly stated: "As European Ombudsman I can investigate only complaints that concern the administrative work of the European Unionʹs institutions and bodies, for instance the European Commission and European Union agencies.
"Your complaint concerns the potential outcome of ongoing political negotiations between the EU and the UK. As your complaint concerns a matter of politics rather than administration, your complaint does not fall within my mandate."
Ms O’Reilly said she had inquired into issues regarding transparency and the need for the Commission’s Task Force to meet civil society during the Brexit negotiations.
"These matters can be considered to be ‘administrative’ and may be distinguished from political matters, such as the substantive outcome of the negotiations," she wrote.
She added: "Please also be reassured that, personally, I understand and have great sympathy with the concerns of EU citizens in Northern Ireland regarding the possible consequences for them of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU."
The complaint suggested that the draft text of the Withdrawal Treaty is limited in its promise to protect the rights that derive from the Good Friday Agreement and from EU equality legislation, and that the ability of Irish - and therefore EU - citizens in Northern Ireland to access and exercise EU rights where they reside was not given full weight in the draft text.
This has been rejected by EU sources who say that many of the rights referred to related to the future EU-UK relationship, and not the Withdrawal Agreement.
Read More: Tony Connelly: Rights, wrongs and the Good Friday Agreement
