Andrew Boylan
Question:11 Mr. Boylan asked the Minister for Defence the number of troops available for active service under the UNSAS standby arrangement; and the number delegated to different missions. [12683/99]
Other Questions. - Overseas Missions.
Ireland has committed a maximum of 850 military personnel for service with the United Nations at any one time under the United Nations Standby Arrangement System – UNSAS. There is, however, no obligation to participate in any particular mission and Dáil approval would be required for the dispatch of a contingent to any specific operation. The number of Defence Forces personnel currently deployed to different missions is in the tabular statement that follows. It would be a matter for the Government and the Dáil, as appropriate, to decide on the deployment or redeployment as necessary of contingents of the Defence Forces to individual missions.
1.UN Missions
(i)UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) 613
(ii)UNTSO (United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation) – Israel, Syria and Lebanon 11
(iii)UNFICYP (United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus) 20
(iv)UNIKOM (United Nations Iraq Kuwait Observer Mission) 5
(v)UNSMA (United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan) 1
(vi)MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) 7
(vii)UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission – Iraq) 1
There is one officer on loan to the UNSCOM head office in the UN Secretariat in New York.
(viii)United Nations Operations in the former Yugoslavia
(a)UNPREDEP (Mission Closed wef 28/2/99)
(b)UNMOP (United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka) 1
(ix)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 710
2.UN HQ (New York)
There is one officer on secondment to the Department of Peacekeeping 1 Operations (DPKO)
3.EU Missions
European Community Monitor Mission (ECMM) to the former Yugoslavia 12
4.Organisation on Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
(i)Military Observers (1 located in Georgia, 8 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2 in Albania) 11
(ii)Staff Officer, High Level Planning Group, Vienna 1
(iii)Staff Appointments, Croatia 5
(iv)Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) 5*
*5 personnel evacuated to Macedonia on 20/3/99
4 officers at present in Macedonia, 1 officer has been deployed to Albania.
Total OSCE 22
5.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 748
Note: Four personnel have been seconded to GOAL and are based in Albania. Two personnel are on secondment to the Irish Refugee Agency in Macedonia.