Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 49 to 53, inclusive, together.

Under Ireland’s Rapid Response Initiative, highly skilled and experienced individuals from a Rapid Response Corps, managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, can be rostered to provide short notice surge capacity to four UN partner organisations. A Rapid Response Strategy was developed in 2015 and governs Ireland’s overall approach. This Strategy is available on the Irish Aid website.

Individual members of the Rapid Response Corps are deployed at the request of those UN humanitarian agencies with which Ireland has concluded formal bilateral Stand-by Agreements, under the UN Stand-by Partnership Programme. The four agencies with which Ireland has a Stand-by Agreement are: United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR); World Food Programme (WFP); United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

These organisations identify the specialist support required in a given emergency situation and request assistance from partners, including Ireland, in filling their skills gaps. The support they require, and skill sets they demand, varies from emergency to emergency, and have changed over time as the nature, duration and location of crises have evolved.

The Rapid Response Corps was launched in 2007. Since then, there have been over 350 deployments of expert responders from the Irish roster, with in 2017 over 4,000 days of critical support provided by Irish corps members to stand-by partners.

Against a background of increasing humanitarian need internationally, changing stand-by partner demands, and in a context where a number of people were no longer available for deployment, it became clear that the roster of skilled people available for deployment as members of the Irish Rapid Response Corps needed to be replenished and supplemented. Contacts with Ireland’s UN stand-by partners identified the skillsets and expertise required, including language.

The requirements and format of 2018 selection process were set out in the Information Booklet accompanying the call for applications – we will provide a copy to the Deputy.

The recruitment was widely publicized, including in print, electronic media and radio, in order to encourage as broad a range of new and talented applicants as possible. While it is desirable that members of Ireland’s Rapid Response Corps have an affinity with Ireland, the essential element is that members of the roster have the necessary skill sets to support Ireland’s UN stand-by partners in their humanitarian responses. Accordingly, Irish nationality is not a requirement of roster membership. A high number of strong applications were received. Current members of the Rapid Response Corps were not required to re-apply.

The process to assess applications received was managed in accordance with established best practice. Two expert shortlisting panels and three interview panels were constituted, made up of experienced Departmental officials with a knowledge of the Rapid Response Initiative, the Corps and the needs of Ireland’s UN stand-by partners, supplemented by three individuals with Rapid Response experience with a deep knowledge of the requirements. Panel members were required to identify from the list of applicants where a possible conflict might apply: where possible conflicts of interest were identified, the panel member concerned neither assessed the relevant application nor interviewed the person concerned. Unconscious bias training was also provided to panel members.

The three members of the Rapid Response Corps who participated in the process were remunerated in line with the daily rate paid to members on deployment. Two of the three also participated in the shortlisting in addition to the interviews. Hotel accommodation was provided during the shortlisting and interview process. Travel expenses, according to Civil Service rates, were paid.

197 applications were received by the deadline of 16 May, 2018. 65 applicants were female and 132 were male. Late applications were not considered. 24 female and 61 male applicants were shortlisted for interview, of which 22 female and 47 male applicants successfully passed the interview stage.

One applicant, who was not shortlisted for interview, appealed the decision of the Shortlisting Panel. In line with the appeals process, the application was re-assessed independently by a shortlisting panel not involved in the original decision. The appeal was not successful. There are no further stages of appeal. The Code of Conduct of the Commission of Public Service Appointments is not applicable to the Rapid Response Corps recruitment process, as it relates to permanent appointments to the civil service.

Applicants were required to be fluent in English. Additionally, French and Arabic were considered as desirable requirements, as requested by our stand-by partners in the UN – the goal of the Roster is ultimately to meet the demand driven needs of these partners.

Ireland’s Rapid Response Corps roster and the Election Observation roster have different objectives and requirements. This is reflected in the criteria and in the recruitment processes for both, with the nature, duration and location of Rapid Response Corps deployments a deciding factor in determining the need for interview in the case of this roster.