Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 July 2019
114. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if undertakings were provided to issue a composite reply to concerns and questions raised by Irish election observers early in 2019 in respect of the establishment of the 2018 election observation placement roster; when the reply will issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31755/19]
View answerThe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade administers and maintains a roster of suitably skilled individuals available to deploy on international election observation missions organised, in the main, by the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
A new roster was mustered in January 2019. An appeals process was made available to unsuccessful candidates. During that process, a number of unsuccessful applicants asked questions about the election observation roster and the mustering process. As the majority of these questions were outside the terms of reference of the appeals panel, in the interests of transparency and efficiency the Department undertook to issue a composite response to all applicants in due course.
The preparation of the composite response is ongoing. The Department will issue a final communication to all candidates once the security vetting process is complete and we have closed off the roster mustering file.
