Austin Currie
Question:61 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Defence the number and location of Irish Defence Forces serving overseas; and the future policy, if any, in this regard. [4809/98]
Written Answers. - Overseas Missions.
As the detailed information sought by the Deputy is in the form of a tabular statement I propose to circulate it in the Official Report. At present there is a total of 749 Defence Forces personnel serving overseas. This figure includes 673 personnel who are serving with the United Nations: 51 personnel with the UN authorised Stabilisation Force in
Bosnia and Herzegovina — SFOR; 13 personnel with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe — OSCE and nine personnel with the European Community Monitor Mission — ECMM to the former Yugoslavia. There is, in addition, one officer attached to each of the following: the Irish Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, the Irish Permanent Representation to the OSCE in Vienna and Ireland's Observer Delegation to the Western European Union — Western European Union — in Brussels. The level of participation on overseas missions is kept under continual review in order to ensure that security needs at home can be met at all times and that the cost to the Defence Vote does not become excessive.
Statement
Current participation in overseas missions is as follows:
|
1. |
UN Missions |
||
|
(i) |
UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) |
610 |
|
|
(ii) |
UNTSO (United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation) — Israel, Syria and Lebanon |
11 |
|
|
(iii) |
UNFICYP (United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus) |
30 |
|
|
(iv) |
UNIKOM (United Nations Iraq Kuwait Observer Missions) |
6 |
|
|
(v) |
UNSMA (United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan) |
1 |
|
|
(iv) |
MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) |
8 |
|
|
(vii) |
UNDOF (United Nations Disengagement Observer Force) — Syria |
1 |
|
|
(viii) |
UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission) — Iraq |
1 |
|
|
(ix) |
United Nations Operations in the former Yugoslavia |
1 |
|
|
(a) UNPREDEP (United Nations Preventive Deployment Force) |
2 |
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|
(b) UNMOP (United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka) |
1 |
||
|
(x) |
Officers on loan to the UN Secretariat in New York |
1 |
|
|
Total |
673 |
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|
(xi) |
UN authorised multinational Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina |
||
|
(a) SFOR HQ Sarajevo |
50 |
||
|
(b) Military Liaison Officer, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Mons, Belgium |
1 |
||
|
Total number of personnel serving with UN missions |
724 |
||
|
2 |
EU Missions |
||
|
European Community Monitor Mission (ECMM) to the former Yugoslavia |
9 |
||
|
3. |
Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) |
||
|
(i) Military Observers (1 located in Georgia, 4 in Croatia, 6 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1 in Albania) |
12 |
||
|
(ii) Staff Officer, High Level Planning Group, Vienna |
1 |
||
|
Total OSCE |
13 |
||
|
Military Advisers/Delegates |
|||
|
(i) Military Adviser, Permanent Mission to UNHQ, New York |
1 |
||
|
(ii) Military Adviser, Irish Delegation to OSCE, Vienna |
1 |
||
|
(iii) Military Delegate to Ireland's Observer Delegation to Western European Union, Brussels |
1 |
||
|
Total Number of Defence Forces Personnel Serving Overseas |
749 |