Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 15 Jun 2000

Vol. 521 No. 3

Written Answers. - Overseas Election Observers.

Louis J. Belton

Ceist:

76 Mr. Belton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland has sent election monitors to any countries since June 1997; if so, to list the monitors and the countries in each case; and to outline the way in which the monitors were selected. [16928/00]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen)

Election observers from Ireland have been recruited by APSO, Agency for Personal Service Overseas, for elections at various levels in a number of countries from 1997 to 2000 to date:

1997	Liberia
	Bosnia
	Serbia
1998	Ukraine
	Bosnia
	Croatia
	Lesotho
	Cambodia
	Slovakia
1999	Indonesia
	Mozambique
	Croatia
2000	Croatia
	Kosovo
	Surinam
	Montenegro
	Zimbabwe

A list of election observers has been forwarded to the Deputy. Requests to Ireland for observers may come from a variety of sources, for example, the European Union or the United Nations, through the United Nations Volunteers or the United Nations Development Programme. In these cases, APSO assists in identifying suitable personnel. Increasingly, also, observers requested by the European Union have been funded under EU joint actions and APSO's role is to identify suitable personnel. Requests are channelled through the Department and are, therefore, not identified separately in the attached list.

Separately from the above, five members of the Oireachtas went to Cambodia in 1998 to observe the elections there. The team was funded on that occasion under the human rights and democratis ation budget line of the Vote for international co-operation administered by the Department.

APSO operates very strict procedures for the recruitment of election observers. The agency maintains a register of personnel from which potential observers are recruited. Applicants for inclusion on the register are obliged to attend an interview and are expected to fulfil at least one of two criteria, i.e. previous overseas experience and/or previous election experience over and above having voted. Interviews for inclusion on the register take place twice a year.

On receipt of a request to provide observers, personnel are selected from the register on the basis of the following criteria: immediate knowledge of the country concerned; knowledge of the language; and knowledge of the area. It is also APSO policy to maintain a gender balance wherever possible and to field a mix of more experienced personnel and those new to the register.