Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. Election counts are to the fore of most of our minds at the moment as we watch the continuing drama in the United States, and we hope this will resolve itself sooner rather than later. There are many countries, however, in the Third World and the former Soviet bloc where, sadly, we can never be certain the democratic process will be carried out freely and fairly. Ireland plays its part in helping to ensure that elections are conducted properly by taking part in election monitoring conducted by, among others, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. The Department of Foreign Affairs maintains a list of approved election observers for this purpose, as the Minister of State will be aware. I understand that Ireland generally sends between 12 and 18 observers abroad per year but that this practice has been curtailed due to the restrictions on international travel because of Covid-19.

I have a particular interest in the area because I have had the privilege of being involved in election monitoring during my time as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as a parliamentarian. What is done under the auspices of the OSCE involving volunteers - non-parliamentarians - is an even more significant and worthwhile activity, and those involved are very much to be commended on what they do.

The Minister of State spoke previously about efforts that are made to refresh and replenish the list of volunteers through a periodic recruitment process. Is this enough and is it being done often enough? My understanding is that the existing Irish roster largely comprises retired persons who sometimes cannot be deployed for medical reasons. Observers require a GP to sign them off for duty and this will not happen in the current climate. Should more be done?

The Minister of State issued a reply to a parliamentary question from Deputy Connolly on 15 October, which was repeated in a reply to a question from Deputy Richmond earlier this week, on 3 November. The reply stated that OSCE missions for upcoming elections in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova "have been reconfigured as limited election observation missions not requiring volunteer observers due to the difficulty which OSCE members have in nominating volunteers given the extent of the pandemic." I have copies of two lists published by the OSCE that give the names and nationalities of what are called long-term observers being sent to each of these countries. A total of 117 long-term observers from 14 countries were sent to observe these recent or upcoming elections. Clearly, these countries have had no difficulty in nominating volunteers notwithstanding the pandemic. It is my understanding that all these long-term observers are volunteers.

In view of this, why did the Minister of State tell the Dáil twice in recent weeks that OSCE member states are not sending volunteers when it seems they are? I am not for a moment imputing dishonesty to him but it seems there is a crossed wire in respect of the issue somewhere in the Department and it is important that be clarified. If 14 other countries are sending observers even with the Covid pandemic ongoing, why is Ireland not taking part? I hope Covid is not being used to shirk or dodge our responsibilities in this area.

Should we not offer Irish volunteer observers the opportunity to travel if they wish to do so, even if this meant they would have to quarantine voluntarily as a result? The Department has travel insurance in place for observers it deploys, which should cover the costs.