Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 October 2025
94. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the process by which persons are nominated or appointed by the State to serve as members of the permanent court of arbitration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54400/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra95. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the eligibility criteria applied in the selection of persons nominated by the State to the permanent court of arbitration; and if such criteria was publicly available in advance of the most recent appointments on 4 April 2024 and 13 May 2025. [54401/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra96. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the body or persons responsible for assessing candidates for appointment to the permanent court of arbitration; and the measures in place to ensure impartiality and independence in that assessment. [54402/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra97. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide details of the records or documentation relating to the consideration of candidates for nomination to the permanent court of arbitration; and if he will make such records available. [54403/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra98. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the rationale provided for the most recent appointments to the permanent court of arbitration on 4 April 2024 and 13 May 2025; and the way in which the process ensured transparency and fairness in accordance with best practice for public appointments. [54404/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 94 to 98, inclusive, together.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) was the first global mechanism created for the settlement of disputes between States. It was established by the Hague Conventions for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes of 1899 and 1907. Ireland acceded to the 1907 Convention in 2002.
The PCA is not a court in the normal sense, but exists to assist States in the peaceful settlement of disputes by maintaining a list of suitably qualified persons from which states that are parties to a dispute may choose to form a tribunal for the purpose of settling their dispute. These persons are referred to as ‘Members of the Court.’
Appointment as a Member of the PCA does not require performance of any function – any Member asked to serve as an arbitrator to a particular dispute must agree to do so. No Irish Member of the PCA has ever been asked to serve as an arbitrator to a dispute arbitrated under the 1907 Convention. In fact, since the 1960s it has been extremely rare for States to submit disputes to the PCA at all.
Nowadays, the principal (and, in practice, only) function of Members of the PCA is the nomination of candidates for election to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. This function is conferred upon them by Article 4 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which is annexed to the Charter of the United Nations.
In Ireland, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade also seeks the assessment of the Irish National Group of the candidates nominated by other states’ National Groups in advance of determining Ireland’s voting intentions in regular elections to the ICJ at the UN General Assembly and Security Council in New York.
Each State Party to the 1907 Convention is entitled to appoint up to four persons as Members of the Court. The eligibility criteria for appointment, as set out at Article 44 of that Convention, are that the persons have ‘known competency in questions of international law’, and are ‘of the highest moral reputation and disposed to accept the duties of arbitrators’. Appointments are for a renewable term of six years. Members of the Court from each State Party constitute that State’s ‘National Group’. Members of National Groups typically consist of judges, Foreign Ministry legal advisers, legal practitioners and academics. Members serve in a voluntary capacity and there is no remuneration.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade appoints Ireland’s PCA Members. The practice since Ireland became a party to the 1907 Convention has been to appoint the DFAT Legal Adviser, to invite the sitting Attorney General to become a member and to ask him or her to consult the Chief Justice on the nomination of one or more sitting judges of the Superior Courts. Previous members of the Irish national group have also included suitably qualified academics.
The current Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Legal Adviser, Declan Smyth, was appointed to Ireland’s National Group in April 2024, in succession to his predecessor. The six-year terms of the three then-incumbent National Group members expired later that year. In March 2025, the Tánaiste approved the Department’s recommendation that the current Attorney General be invited to serve as a member of the National Group, and that he and the Chief Justice recommend two members of the judiciary for appointment. Following this, in May 2025 the Tánaiste then approved the appointment of the Attorney General, Rossa Fanning SC, and Judges Aileen Donnelly of the Supreme Court and Niamh Hyland of the Court of Appeal.
