Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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674. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on the recruitment process of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission; the location of the advertisement; the way in which the selection process is undertaken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18290/21]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The Programme for Government – Our Shared Future – commits to the establishment of an Electoral Commission for Ireland, which will take on a range of electoral functions. In October 2020, the Government approved the drafting of a General Scheme of an Electoral Reform Bill which would, inter alia, provide for the establishment of a statutory, independent Electoral Commission. The General Scheme was approved by Government in December 2020 and published in January 2021 and it is available on my Department's website at the following link . The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage is currently carrying out pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme.

Head 5 in the General Scheme provides that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission be a serving or former judge of the High Court, the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal, nominated by the Chief Justice and appointed by the President.