Vol. 408 No. 5
21 Mrs. Taylor-Quinn asked the Minister for Defence if, having regard to various human crises throughout the world resulting from political and natural causes, he will investigate the possibility of the Irish Army developing an emergency response unit which could travel at very short notice anywhere in the world and establish field hospitals to relieve immediate distress.
By virtue of the provisions of section 2 of the Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1960, a contingent of the Permanent Defence Force may be despatched for service outside the State only with a particular international United Nations Force. No request from the United Nations for assistance of the type envisaged in the question has been received. Any such request would be considered in the light of the circumstances prevailing at the time.
Will the Minister consider introducing amending legislation which would change that stipulation and give freedom to the Government to initiate the kind of proposals which I suggested? Recently in Iraq there has been a problem with the Kurds and there has also been the terrible tragedy in Bangladesh. As the response of the Irish people has been so generous, will the Minister agree that our Army could make a very valuable contribution to providing relief in these areas if training was provided? They have a limited function at present.
I do not think that the changes in the legislation which the Deputy thinks are desirable are necessary or warranted; usually international assistance is arranged on a co-ordinated basis and this country has always responded promptly and generously. Indeed, when we were requested by the United Nations to send a mission to the Iraq-Kuwait border, personnel were ready to go there within a matter of hours.
Is the Minister aware that emergency response units exist in other armies? As a member of the EC, does the Minister consider that member states should, individually and jointly, consider providing this type of response mechanism, particularly to areas in the Third World, which have been so seriously affected by natural and political crises?
I do not have anything to add to what I said already. We have responded very positively and quickly on any occasion when we have been asked to do so. It is done on an international basis through the United Nations and we made a very positive response. Indeed, we have played an outstanding role in this regard.
I fully agree that we have responded excellently in relation to peace-keeping operations but this is very different. The Army have the manpower and ability to provide an emergency unit to respond within 24 hours to a major disaster in a part of the world where ordinary people are seriously affected.
We are now having repetition.
Responses are organised internationally through the United Nations. We have always responded positively and quickly and we will do so again in the future.
