Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 97: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the fact that no Irish ambassadorial appointment was made to the European external action service announced on 15 September 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36062/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The European External Action Service, the EEAS, is an important innovation under the Lisbon Treaty to support the work of the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. The Treaty provides that the EEAS will comprise officials from relevant departments of the Commission and the Council Secretariat, as well as staff seconded from the national diplomatic services of the Member States. The former European Commission Delegations outside the European Union have now become Delegations of the European Union, and are under the authority of the High Representative. While the EEAS is not yet fully up and running, the European Commission opened the competition for Heads of Delegation in this year's rotation to applicants from the diplomatic services of the Member States and the Council Secretariat.

On 15 September High Representative Ashton announced an initial tranche of appointments of 28 Heads of Delegation, as well as the Deputy Head of Delegation in Beijing. There was a number of applicants from Ireland's diplomatic service, some of whom were called for final interview. However, none were successful on this occasion. Of those appointed, three are Irish citizens working for the Commission. While this is a gratifying reflection of the calibre of Irish people serving in the European Institutions, naturally they will be counted as coming from the Commission stream of staffing for the EEAS rather than that of the Member States.

There are currently two other EEAS staff selection processes underway. One is for 10 senior posts at the headquarters of the EEAS in Brussels, and the other is for 81 more junior posts, mostly in EU Delegations. Appointments should be made by the High Representative in the coming months. Officers from the Department of Foreign Affairs have applied for some of these positions.

Ireland has consistently pressed for the EEAS recruitment process to be open, transparent and merit-based, while also ensuring that EEAS staffing is representative of the diversity of the Union. The Council Decision establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service states that recruitment should be based on merit whilst ensuring adequate geographical and gender balance, and also that the staff of the EEAS should comprise a meaningful presence of nationals from all the Member States.

I am conscious that the number of posts involved in this first round of appointments was small and not fully representative of the EEAS. I am confident, however, that Irish diplomats will be included in future rounds of appointments and will make a valuable contribution to the work of the new service.