Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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777. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will address a series of matters regarding the rapid response and election observation rosters (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15422/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs enables participation in a range of overseas deployment opportunities for suitable qualified and vetted volunteers, typically involving placement with, or by, third party organisations, facilitated by the Department through a range of rosters, registers, initiatives and programmes, including the Election Observation Roster and the Rapid Response Corps.

I also 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, which are attached to this response, and where the issues raised here have been comprehensively addressed.

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, Nos. 362 and 363 of 17 December 2020, No. 323 of 13 January 2021 and No. 372 of 10 February 2021.

In addition, the issue of reasonable accommodation for disabilities as it pertains to the application process for and operation of the Election Observer Roster has also been addressed in the responses to Parliamentary Questions: No. 60 of 23 January 2019; No. 153 of 5 February 2019; No. 65 of 6 February 2019; No. 58 of 7 February 2019; No. 124 of 12 February 2019; No. 129 of 19 February 2019; Nos. 100 and 105 of 26 February 2019; Nos. 117 and 119 of 5 March 2019; Nos. 74, 76 and 81 of 6 March 2019; No. 68 of 12 March 2019; No. 157 of 26 March 2019; Nos. 117 and 119 of 16 April 2019; No. 73 of 29 May 2019; No. 119 of 25 June 2019; No. 109 of 10 July 2019; No. 186 of 13 October 2020; No. 113 of 11 November; No. 256 of 26 November 2020 and Nos. 362 and 363 of 17 December 2020.

The current Election Observation Roster of volunteers for nomination to EU and/or OSCE election observation missions was established effective as of 1 January 2019 for five years. The Department's Evaluation and Audit Unit, which is independent and reports directly to the Secretary General and to the Department's external Audit Committee, published a recently completed a review of the Election Observation Roster as part of the standard, Department-wide approach of reviewing our procedures and working practices. The review team concluded that the ‘2018/19 election observation roster mustering process was transparent, fair and carried out to a high standard.’

That report demonstrates that the Irish system for election monitoring to be robust and effective by international standards.

It does, however, highlight the exceptional burden created by unreasonably voluminous correspondence, repetitive transparency requests and appeals, noting an observation by the Information Commissioner of ‘one facet of this volume of work as ‘a continuation of that same pattern of conduct ... that I found to be an abuse of process [in a previous case]’...’.

The Rapid Response Corps is a roster of experts available to deploy at short notice under the UN Standby Partnership Programme in response to severe, sudden-onset crises and emergencies. The specialist nature of the Rapid Response Corps means that it has a different remit and is not analogous to the volunteer election roster.

As outlined in response to Parliamentary Questions No. 329 of 2 February 2021 and No. 7214 of 10 February 2021, this Department expects to launch the next recruitment campaign to that roster in 2022. The last such recruitment took place in 2018. The timing of recruitment campaigns is to ensure that the skills of Rapid Response Corps members are aligned with the skills required by UN agencies, within the Standby Partnership Programme, which can vary periodically.

In the case of both of these rosters, there were significantly more applicants than places available, and thus the disappointment of those who were not successful in these competitions is understandable. Nevertheless, as outlined above, these competitions were conducted to a very high standard and included appeals processes, thus continued efforts to overturn the outcome of these open and competitive processes would do an injustice to those who came through the competitions and have earned their places on the rosters. 

1. www.dfa.ie/media/dfa/newsmedia/EOM-review-DCAD-FINAL-Report.pdf.

2. .

3. www.irishaid.ie/media/irishaid/getinvolved/electionroster/Composite-Response.pdf.