Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 and 70 together.

I refer the Deputy to the responses to previous parliamentary questions on these matters, Questions 103 and 104 of 24 July 2018, Questions 57 and 58 of 03 July 2018, Question 107 of 24 April 2018, Question 16 of 25 January 2018.

International election monitoring missions play an important role in the promotion of democracy and human rights. We aim to ensure that, when requested, Ireland is represented at an appropriate level on international observation missions for elections and constitutional referendums. Irish observers participate primarily in missions organised by the European Union or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The call for applications to establish a new Election Observation roster was issued on 2 July last and the call was open until 20 August 2018. Late applications were not accepted. The call was published on two Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade websites: and .It was also publicised on social media.

As the closing date for submission of applications has only recently passed and as applications are still being verified and screened, it would not be appropriate for the Department to provide details on the applications until the selection process is completed and the roster established.

The candidate information booklet which was provided to all applicants and also published on the Departments website set out all of the necessary details about the operation of the roster, the eligibility requirements, criteria and the process and methodology leading to the establishment of the roster.

In the interests of an efficient process, and taking into account manifold other demands on staff, including the continuing prudential management of Irish Aid funding, it was decided that the assessment of applications to join the new Election Observation Roster should be a paper-based exercise. While interviews had been considered, they are now not planned. This rationale was set in the letter of 9 July 2018 from the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, available on the Oireachtas website.

A number of selection panels will be established to appraise all of the applications that meet the essential criteria. The selection panels will consist of two officers from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and one external person who will have appropriate experience. Panel members will receive application assessment and unconscious bias training. All panel members will be obliged to disclose any potential conflict of interest. If such an interest is notified, appropriate safeguards will be implemented. A calibration exercise will be conducted to ensure consistency. All applicants will be appraised on the basis of the information contained and set out on the official application form. Verification of data contained in the application, including language proficiency, will also form part of the process.

All applicants seeking to join the election roster will be appraised against the criteria set out in the Volunteer Information Booklet. Further, all applicants will be treated in exactly the same way regardless of whether they have been on a previous roster. The current roster will be extinguished once the new roster is formally established. The key objective is to generate a sufficient cadre of available, qualified volunteers which can meet the needs of election observation missions, as the EU and OSCE require, and which evolve over time.

It is expected that the process to establish the new roster will be finalised by the end of 2018.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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International election monitoring missions play an important role in the promotion of democracy and human rights. We aim to ensure that, when requested, Ireland is represented at an appropriate level on international observation missions for elections and constitutional referendums. Irish observers participate primarily in missions organised by the European Union or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). I refer the Deputy to the responses to previous Parliamentary Questions on this matter, Question 138 of 10 July 2018, Question 167 of 4 July 2018, Questions 167 and 172 of 25 October 2017, Questions 357 and 358 of 13 December 2016, Question 243 of 2 November 2016 and Questions 335, 336 and 337 of 14 June 2016.

The OSCE issued a request for long-term observers to participate in the Limited Election Observation Mission (LEOM) for the Mid-term Congressional elections in the United States of America, scheduled to take place on 06 November 2018. The OSCE indicated verbally to the Election Desk that they were reissuing this call requesting the assistance of participating States in seconding long-term observers for this LEOM.

The standard practice of the Department has been to focus on elections in developing countries and emerging democracies and not to deploy observers for elections in EU Member States, the United States and Canada. However, in the case at issue, the OSCE made a specific request to Ireland to nominate a long-term observer, having difficulty finding a full complement. Following careful consideration of this request, and in line with Ireland’s longstanding support for the OSCE, one long-term observer from the Irish panel of election observers was nominated to participate in the OSCE Limited Election Observation Mission (LEOM) for the Mid-term Congressional elections in the United States of America, scheduled to take place on 6 November 2018.

The criteria for selection for this LEOM is exactly the same as applied in all observation missions which was set out in the Information Note for Applicants accompanying the call for applications to join the Election Observation Roster established in 2013.

For each election observation mission to which Ireland proposes to deploy observers, all roster members are invited to express their interest in the mission with a view to ensuring the widest possible participation. A shortlist is drawn up based on the specific criteria set out by the EU or OSCE, including relevant local and regional experience, language proficiency, gender and length of time since serving on a mission. In many cases, the EU and OSCE also invite Member States to nominate new observers or observers with limited experience. However, the final decision rests with the inviting body, usually the OSCE or the European Union.

The Department received 13 applications to participate in this LEOM from existing Roster Members by the deadline, 9 of whom were male members of the Roster and 4 were female members of the Roster. The Department did not receive any request for an appeal from unsuccessful applicants. As the LEOM has not yet taken place, and no individual therefore yet been deployed, it would not be appropriate at this stage to release the name of potential observers.