Written answers
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Election Monitoring Missions
Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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373. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts was assured by Irish Aid officials that an election observers competition fully met public standards when the competition was conducted without an equality section or accommodations for disability; the reason the forms were not marked by a person independent of Irish Aid; the reason almost all marks were allocated on five competencies by serving or retired officials who had no actual experience of election observation; the reason a senior official decided that disability could not be considered in the competition; the reason a formal notice was issued stating the consideration of disability would be unfair to other candidates; the reason the appeal mechanism was only a numerical check of the marks of candidates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45025/20]
Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to the response to the Information Note on the Overseas Election Observation Roster prepared for the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade (JCFATD) and the Composite Note published on the election observation pages of the Irish Aid website, where the issues raised here have been comprehensively addressed and which are attached to this response.
Matters pertaining to the selection process for the 2019-2023 roster, as well as the membership and operation of the roster, have also been addressed in response to Parliamentary Questions No. 16 of 25 January 2018, No. 98 of 28 March 2018, No. 107 of 24 April 2018, No. 60 of 21 June 2018, Nos. 57 and 58 of 3 July 2018, No. 167 of 4 July 2018, Nos. 138 and 149 of 10 July 2018, Nos. 103,104, 105, 106 and 107 of 24 July 2018, Nos. 69 and 70 of 7 September 2018, No. 45 of 20 September 2018, No. 36 of 9 October 2018, No. 43 of 11 October 2018, No. 179 of 23 October 2018, Nos. 151 and 157 of 20 November 2018, No. 74 of 6 December 2018, No. 109 of 19 December 2018, Nos. 59, 60 and 61 of 23 January 2019, No. 120 of 29 January 2019, Nos. 80 and 81 of 30 January 2019, Nos. 146, 147 and 153 of 5 February 2019, Nos. 61 and 65 of 6 February 2019, No. 58 of 7 February 2019, Nos. 124 and 138 of 12 February 2019, No. 71 of 13 February 2019, No. 129 of 19 February 2019, Nos. 100, 105, 108 and 109 of 26 February 2019, Nos. 115, 117, 119 and 126 of 5 March 2019, Nos. 74, 76 and 81 of 6 March 2019, Nos. 59 and 68 of 12 March 2019, No. 114 of 13 March 2019, No. 157 of 26 March 2019, Nos. 81, 85 and 99 of 2 April 2019, No. 115 of 16 April 2019, No. 51 of 18 April 2019, No. 73 of 29 May 2019, Nos. 117 and 119 of 25 June 2019, Nos. 108, 109, 110, 111 and 112 of 10 July 2019, No. 114 of 23 July 2019, Nos. 106 and 124 of 10 December 2019, No. 37 of 5 March 2020, No. 30 of 13 May 2020, No. 21 of 3 June 2020, No. 33 of 16 June 2020, Nos. 338 and 342 of 21 July 2020, No. 453 of 8 September 2020, Nos. 369 and 370 of 15 September 2020, No. 109 of 23 September 2020, No. 396 of 6 October 2020, Nos. 186, 187 and 188 of 13 October, No. 158 of 15 October, No. 665 of 3 November, No. 400 of 10 November 2020, No. 113 of 11 November 2020, Nos. 410 and 419 of 24 November 2020, Nos. 255 and 256 of 26 November 2020, Nos. 292 and 293 of 15 December 2020, and Nos. 362 and 363 of 17 December 2020.
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Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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374. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the way in which it is possible for an Irish election observer to obtain top marks in independent tests with the official election bodies of OSCE and EU yet the same tests administered by Irish Aid officials on a candidate (details supplied) placed the candidate much lower than other Irish observers who failed the OSCE and EU tests; his views on whether this suggests flaws in the competition run by his Department; his further views on whether the matter should be independently investigated; if so, if an independent investigation will be carried out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45026/20]
Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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The Department has checked its records, which do not appear to indicate a person of that name put themselves forward for consideration for membership of the volunteer Election Observation Roster under the most recent mustering. My officials would be happy to follow up with the Deputy directly.
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