Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 June 2014
46. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if there is a reserve panel for persons that wish to join his Department's election roster; the way persons were selected for this panel; if details of same were published; if persons that were selected submitted a curriculum vitae as part of the application process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25154/14]
View answerInternational election monitoring missions play an important role in the promotion of democracy and human rights. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade maintains and administers a roster of observers for such missions. The aim is to ensure that, when requested, Ireland is represented at an appropriate level in international observation missions for both elections and constitutional referendums. The Department carried out a comprehensive review of the election observation roster in 2013. A public call for applications to the roster was issued, with all applications being required to submit a detailed application form, setting out their relevant qualifications, knowledge and experience in a number of areas. These areas included: experience of election processes and election observation; knowledge of human rights and / or governance issues; experience of living in challenging environments and language and computer skills. Applicants were asked to indicate their proficiency or experience and to provide concrete written examples, where appropriate. An independent appraisal, based only on the information contained in the application form, was subsequently undertaken. Arising from this, the 200 individuals who achieved the highest scores were selected to serve on the new election observation roster. This new roster came into effect on 15 May 2013. Due to the high quality of applications received, a reserve panel of the next 10 highest scoring individuals was also established. The reserve panelists were assessed on the same basis as the 200 other election observation members, with no additional information, being requested as part of this process. Full details of the criteria against which all election observation applicants were assessed were set out in the Information Note, which was published with the election observation application form, on the Department’s website.
