Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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63. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to advertise all temporary, contractual, permanent and other similar forms of attaché positions at various embassies and diplomatic missions publicly through forms such as the Public Appointments Service and publicjobs.ie in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33749/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA) has a statutory role in ensuring that appointments in the organisations that are subject to its remit and to which it has awarded public service recruitment licences, which includes the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, are made on merit and as a result of fair, transparent, impartial and ethical appointment processes that embrace genuine equality of opportunity. This role is pursued through regular audits of the recruitment activities of the organisations concerned. In its recruitment practices at headquarters and abroad my Department is particularly guided by the CPSA Code of Practice on Appointment to Positions in the Civil and Public Service which lays down minimum standards for all aspects of appointment processes.

However, the Deputy will appreciate that recruiting staff to local posts by Missions abroad involves locally-tailored selection processes that may reward additional candidate competencies including proficiency in the English, local and Irish languages, knowledge of Ireland and local knowledge. Also, while endeavouring to recruit from the widest possible pool of available and relevant talent and experience, which we are committed to under the Code of Practice, Missions are constrained by the need to keep advertising costs to a minimum or avoid them altogether. This is done by targeting candidates through use of relevant local free websites.