Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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84. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the scheduled upcoming international Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, and EU election missions in which Irish election observers are due to be nominated to participate; if there are any missions that Ireland will not participate in; the reasons for that; the proposed number of participants per mission; the criteria for the selection of observers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29699/24]

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs maintains and administers a voluntary roster of suitably skilled and vetted individuals who are available to participate at short notice in election observation missions, organised by the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The Roster was established on 1 January 2024 for a five-year period and has 173 members.

The Department nominates Roster members to participate in election observation missions in countries which are deemed eligible by the OECD to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA). OSCE missions take place in OSCE participating States and EU missions take place in countries in Africa, Latin America and occasionally Asia. The number of deployments depends upon the number of applications received and the selection decisions of the EU and OSCE.

The EU has selected one Long Term Observer and two Short Term Observers from Ireland to participate in the EU election observation mission to the Parliamentary Elections in Jordan on 10 September 2024. The Department will soon nominate Roster members to participate in EU election observation missions to the General Elections in Mozambique on 9 October 2024. Subject to receipt of an official invitation from the EU, the Department will also nominate Roster members to participate in the Presidential Elections in Sri Lanka later this year.

Subject to receiving an official invitation from the OSCE, the Department will nominate Roster members to participate in the OSCE observation missions to the Presidential Elections in Moldova on 20 October 2024, Parliamentary Elections in Georgia on 26 October 2024 and Parliamentary Elections in Uzbekistan, at a date to be determined in October 2024.