So far this year, Irish observers were deployed to monitor elections in Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Paraguay and Albania. Noteworthy, the crowdfunded community-led investigative platform from The Journal, supports independent and impactful public interest journalism.Combined, they have deployed thousands of observers on hundreds of missions across the world. Irish observers are regularly sent on missions by the EU or OSCE – an international organisation focused on “peace and democracy”. Now, Noteworthy can show that Ireland was alone among Western European countries in its decision not to send observers.Įlection observation is a key cog in a functioning democracy, ensuring fair and transparent elections. These included transit through airports, extensive in-country travel and interactions with observers from a number of other countries.Īccording to the Department, the decision was primarily informed by the government’s Covid-19 legislation and advice on essential travel. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) halted nomination of observers due to “particular Covid-19 risks”. Irish observers were not deployed over an 18-month period between March 2020 and October 2021. THE IRISH GOVERNMENT was a European outlier in its decision to completely stop sending election observers at the height of the Covid pandemic, a new investigation from Noteworthy finds.
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