Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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713. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 504 of 23 of June 2015, if any additional persons have been added to the election roster since it was established in May 2013; if so, on what basis; the expertise the assessors had in assessing linguistic and computer skills; the way the assessors evaluate the language skills of the various applicants; if this involved an oral testing of the applicants; his views on whether his Department’s selection process meets the high standards expected by the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe; his further views on whether the current model of selection would be in a position to stand up to review through the Irish courts system, such as from roster members who were not selected, but who have significantly better qualifications and experience than those who were; if he will commission an independent review of the roster system including selection processes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28291/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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International election monitoring missions play an important role in the promotion of democracy and human rights. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade maintains and administers a roster of 200 observers for such missions. The aim is to ensure that, when requested, Ireland is represented at an appropriate level in international election observation missions organised in the main by the OSCE and the EU. In recent years, Ireland has successfully nominated monitors to participate in a large number of missions led by the OSCE and EU, the details of which can be found on the Irish Aid website.

The current election observation roster was established in May 2013 for a period of five years, following a review of the previous roster and a public call for applicants. An independent appraisal and ranking of all 263 eligible applicants was undertaken by two assessors external to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, against four criteria specifically related to election observation. These criteria were experience of election observation; knowledge of human rights and/or governance issues; language skills; and experience of challenging environments.

Arising from this, the 200 individuals who achieved the highest scores were selected to serve on the new election observation roster and a reserve panel of the next 10 highest scoring individuals was also established, from which replacements would be drawn should any members leave the roster during the five year period. Since its formation, four members have resigned from the roster. Three replacements drawn from the reserve list in order of ranking have been appointed to the roster and the process of appointing the fourth replacement is underway.

Ireland actively participates in the European Commission and European External Action Service - led European Observation network, which brings together election observation Focal Points from all EU Member States, together with Norway, Switzerland and Canada. The network facilities exchange of information and international best practice on all aspects of election monitoring and roster administration and helps to ensure that we are acting in accordance with that best practice.

I am satisfied that all applicants have been treated fairly and impartially and all unsuccessful applicants were invited to request feedback on their applications. Furthermore the independent review process which was established has facilitated two applicant reviews. In both cases, as set out in the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 153 of 4 February 2014, the reviewer was of the view that the scoring of both applications was fair and impartial across all four published criteria.

I am confident that the current roster is well equipped to deal with the requisite requirements of the EU and OSCE. The Department will keep the process under review taking into account developments in the EU and OSCE context.