Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 Apr 2023

Vol. 1037 No. 1

Operation Irini: Motion

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Deputy Micheál Martin)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves, pursuant to section 2 of the Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1960, as applied by section 2 of the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006, the deployment of a Naval Service Vessel and associated support staff and elements for service as part of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy naval operation, Operation lrini, and in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011) and subsequent UN Resolutions on the arms embargo on Libya, noting that the planned deployment is for a period of seven weeks and will be subject to renewal of the UN mandate/authority for the mission.

This recommendation was approved by the Government on 5 April last. As the mission is also the subject of a resolution of the United Nations Security Council, I am today asking Dáil Éireann to complete the triple lock and approve participation in this UN-mandated mission.

In commending the motion to the Dáil, I want to advise the House of the background to the mission - the EU naval operation in the Mediterranean, EUNAVFOR MED, or Operation Irini - and outline why the Government believes Ireland should join it at this point and why the Dáil should confirm its approval of Ireland's participation. The operation was launched on 31 March 2020 with the primary mission of implementing the UN Security Council resolutions on the arms embargo on Libya. Its core task is the implementation of the UN arms embargo on Libya through the use of aerial, satellite and maritime assets. In particular, the mission is mandated to carry out inspections of vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya suspected to be carrying arms or related material to and from Libya in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2292 of 2016 and subsequent resolutions.

As for its objective, Operation Irini aims, by stemming the flow of weapons into Libya, to create the conditions for a permanent ceasefire in that country. The Libyan people have suffered terribly over many years and all efforts to secure a permanent ceasefire there should be made. The operation also has important secondary tasks of implementing measures, all covered by separate UN Security Council resolutions, to contribute to the implementation of UN measures to prevent the illicit exportation of petroleum from Libya, to assist in the development of the capacity and training of the Libyan Coast Guard and navy, and to contribute to the disruption of the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks, in accordance with applicable international law.

While capacity-building and training of the Libyan Coast Guard is part of Operation Irini’s mandate, it is not intended that Naval Service personnel will engage in this activity when deployed to Operation Irini. Operation Irini has no mandate for search and rescue events. It operates on the high seas and in areas that do not attract such activity. Should an occasion arise, however, where an Operation Irini ship is involved in such an event and rescues migrants, these migrants will be disembarked to a European coastguard ship as soon as possible in order that the Operation Irini ship can return to its mandated operations with the minimum of delay.

In all, 23 EU member states contribute to Operation Irini and, currently, two ships and six planes are deployed to the mission. Countries are encouraged to provide naval assets temporarily to Operation Irini to boost the capability and capacity of the mission. This allows flexibility to participating nations to provide assets on a case-by-case basis and at a time of their choosing. Deputies will recall that during the period 2015 to 2018, the Naval Service contributed ships to two missions in the Mediterranean Sea. The first, Operation Pontus from 2015 to 2017, was an important element in Ireland's response to the migration crisis and was conducted by way of a bilateral arrangement with Italy. In July 2017, the Government and the Dáil approved the redeployment of Naval Service assets from primarily humanitarian search and rescue operations to primarily security and interception operations as part of Operation Sophia. Operation Sophia officially closed on 31 March 2020 and a new EU naval mission, Operation Irini, commenced. In May 2020, the Government approved the deployment of up to three Permanent Defence Force personnel to participate in Operation Irini and agreed to the possible future deployment of up to two personnel to the force headquarters at sea. The Defence Forces currently have three personnel deployed to the operational headquarters of Operation Irini in Rome. The Defence Forces, and the Naval Service in particular, have derived significant benefits from participation in these naval missions.

On behalf of the Government, I am seeking Dáil approval to deploy a single Naval Service patrol vessel to Operation Irini for a period of 46 days in total during June and July 2023. The ship will be positioned in the area of operations for 34 days and the remaining days will be spent travelling to and from the mission area. Participation in Operation Irini will have the following benefits. It will help to further build Naval Service professional capacity in a range of skills and enhance capability in respect of interoperability with other international naval forces; demonstrate Ireland's continued support for EU Common Security and Defence policy missions; and be beneficial in the longer term for Naval Service recruitment and retention. On this last point, Naval Service personnel participating in this mission will gain valuable experience of participating in and working as part of an EU overseas mission. Military management has examined the anticipated impact of maintaining a naval vessel in the Mediterranean on operational capability at home. The Defence Forces advise that the Naval Service patrol plan can accommodate the deployment to Operation Irini.

The Naval Service has confirmed it will maintain a patrol plan that will have two ships on domestic patrols for 61% of the deployment period and one ship for the remaining 39% of the time. While the Department recognises the operational challenges of having only one or two vessels available for domestic duties during this period, the potential benefits of participation in this mission in the context of the recruitment and retention crisis in the Naval Service are accepted. Participation in this mission has been identified by the Naval Service as one of the immediate actions that will, potentially, assist in aiding their recruitment and retention efforts. However, this is not to overstate the impact of the initiative. Obviously, on its own, it will not deal with the issue.

Significant efforts are going to be needed to reverse the ongoing decline in the strength of the Naval Service. A comprehensive Naval Service regeneration plan, approved in 2021, is being progressed and monitored by a senior civil and military team. The deployment of a Naval Service vessel for service as part of Operation Irini is just one action designed to accelerate progress in the regeneration plan. A concentrated campaign to attract new recruits and specialist personnel is at an advanced stage of planning and efforts will be made to target individuals with the skills and expertise required. In addition, a number of retention measures, some specific to the Naval Service, are also in place as part of a Defence Forces retention strategy. Ireland’s contributing a Naval Service vessel to Operation Irini is a positive gesture in support of our European partners. It is a useful and important exercise for our Naval Service and it will, I hope, help amplify the message that a career in our Naval Service is an interesting, exciting and rewarding choice.

I wholeheartedly commend this motion to the House and express my support for it.

Deputy Matt Carthy

I am sharing time with Deputy Cronin.

The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Libya arising from an horrific civil war demands an international humanitarian response. It is welcome that since the ceasefire of October 2020, there has been a reduction in the number of internally displaced persons, of 58% between the date of that agreement and August of last year. Events in Sudan over the past ten days, as well as our own experiences reflected this week as we mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, underscore the fragility of peace processes and the absolute need to foster and protect such frameworks for peace.

In the context of Libya, a current UN Security Council resolution provides the basis for a mission to prevent further arms from entering that field. Sinn Féin is both a firm supporter of Irish neutrality and proud of the record of our Defence Forces personnel on EU missions. The proposal to deploy an Irish naval vessel to the Mediterranean in support of the goal of preventing further arms from being landed in Libya, with a view to disrupting human trafficking networks, is worthy of consideration but, unfortunately, there is little scope for consideration in this House. The Government has allocated just 55 minutes for this debate, and the proposal was not referred to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence for discussion.

In principle, Sinn Féin supports this deployment, operating, as it will, under a clear UN mandate. We believe it is in line with the objectives of securing the existing framework for peace in Libya. The commitments of the proposed deployment are limited to the seas and do not involve participation in the elements of the mission relating to the training of the Libyan Coast Guard. This is important, particularly when compared with the predecessor to Operation Irini, Operation Sophia, which proceeded for a period without UN sanction. The concerns that Sinn Féin raised about that operation have been vindicated. Those in the Libyan Coast Guard have been described as gangsters and warlords masquerading as a coastguard. That seems an apt description, given the substantiated human rights abuses that have emerged. Ireland must not under any circumstances have any hand in training those who are involved in such human rights abuses. Médecins Sans Frontières has expressed concerns in this regard and has called on the Government to refuse to participate in such naval training. That organisation points to the German Government, which has stated that it, "cannot currently justify the training of the Libyan coast guard by German soldiers in view of the repeated unacceptable behavior by individual units of the Libyan coast guard toward refugees and migrants". Such training is currently suspended, as I understand it, due to the political fragmentation in Libya but, as recently as March, an EU Commission spokesperson spoke of the resumption of such training whenever the Libyan side was ready. The Irish Government must give an undertaking that there will be no such participation by members of the Irish Defence Forces in such exercises, and should be pressuring the EU to abandon any intentions in this regard.

In terms of the domestic impact of participation, there are important questions for the Government to answer. Last January, two of our six patrol vessels were placed in operational reserve. At least 12 naval patrols were cancelled in each of January and February. The Tánaiste's assertion that there will be either one or two vessels available for domestic duties is a scandalous indictment of successive Governments in the context of the Naval Service. It would be hard for the Government to argue that it is prioritising the monitoring of illegal fishing, drug smuggling and the other activities for which we depend on the Naval Service.

Eyebrows will rightfully be raised within the Defence Forces regarding the Government's suggestion that this deployment will assist in addressing the ongoing retention and recruitment crisis. To propose that this crisis can be addressed through deployment, that we would send personnel to conflict zones in order to ease the pressure on the Government to improve the working conditions of personnel at home is worrying. If the Tánaiste wants to resolve the retention and recruitment crisis, he should implement the organisation of working time directive.

The Naval Service's fleet of vessels has been systematically reduced by successive Governments. It is now comparable in size with what was in place in the 1970s. Personnel numbers are well below the establishment figure. It is ironic that the parties of Government, having overseen the decimation of the Defence Forces, now seek to embed them in military alliances by means of the deliberate undermining of Irish neutrality. Let me state categorically that Sinn Féin wants to see increased investment in the Defence Forces in terms of the number of personnel and their working conditions and through the acquisition of the necessary equipment. We do so because we want to defend our military neutrality. We also want the Defence Forces to continue to play a positive and constructive role in peacekeeping across the globe.

While wishing our personnel who participate in this mission well, we will continue to monitor the situation in order to ensure that the commitments given by the Tánaiste today are honoured. In my view, there is a role for the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in this regard. I will be asking the committee to take on that role.

Deputy Réada Cronin

As peacekeepers, members of the Defence Forces represent us at our very best across the world. They are currently in action helping to extract our citizens caught up in the conflict in Sudan. I have every confidence in the courage and expertise of the Defence Forces and the Army Ranger Wing to get our people home. They are all in our thoughts.

I take this opportunity to thank our European neighbours for their assistance thus far. I commend the Department on its quick response, given what transpired in the past week, in coming to the aid of our citizens in Sudan. I also express solidarity with the people of Sudan. I hope that the ceasefire holds and that there can be some negotiation towards lasting peace.

On Operation Irini, Sinn Féin will be supporting this UN-backed mission conditionally, in line with the assurances given by the Government. Its primary mandate is to implement the arms embargo on Libya. That is admirable, because the last thing a volatile Libya needs now is more illegally imported weapons. It would be akin to pouring petrol on a raging fire. However, I have some concerns around the secondary mandates of the operation.

I am pleased to note that the Naval Service will not be engaging with the dubious organisation euphemistically called "the Libyan Coast Guard" as part of its mission. This organisation is already the subject of major concerns regarding alleged breaches of international law and human rights abuses. These allegations have been made by multiple NGOs and aid organisations and by the EU and its military mission in a leaked report from last year.

There are appalling conditions in the Libyan camps where Médecins Sans Frontières, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have all pointed to torture, rape, shootings and human rights abuses of the most awful kind. It is a travesty of justice that the EU considers Libyan ports as ports of safe return when all the evidence shows that they are anything but. I am reassured that desperate people who may be picked up by our sailors will be transferred to a European vessel and not handed over to that coastguard.

Operation Irini, unlike Operation Sophia a few years ago, involves no mandate for search and rescue. As is well known, maritime law dictates that if any vessel notes another vessel in distress it is duty bound to go to its immediate rescue. There is no conflict of interest in that instance and I am satisfied that we all know this. However, we all know the dangers of unseaworthy vessels that human traffickers use in the Mediterranean to transport desperate people looking for a better life. I seek clarity from the Tánaiste that in the context of Operation Irini, due to the lack of a specific safety of life at sea search and rescue mandate, the honourable people in the Naval Service will not be faced with an impossible dilemma. If, in pursuit of a suspected vehicle, they notice one of these refugee-carrying death traps referred to as a boat, which may be unable to send distress signals, will they abandon the primary objective of interdicting the target vessel in order to render potential lifesaving assistance or will they continue on the original pursuit? Many of those people who are in these boats have never seen the sea previously, never mind been in a boat, and they may not even know how to send a distress signal.

The Government was rightly proud of our holding a seat in the UN Security Council, a position secured with the support of small nations that admire Ireland's neutral position as an honest broker in international affairs. As a neutral country that the vast majority of people want to remain neutral - as has been shown in numerous polls - it is of considerable benefit to Ireland to maintain that position. Because of our capacity on this island to make peace, to keep the peace and to keep the peace overseas, we are a small but vital voice internationally in an increasingly turbulent world. It is time to find it and to use it to voice our concern regarding the Libyan Coast Guard and Libya being considered a safe point of return. Along with commenting on my earlier point around any potential conflict of operational interest, I would appreciate if the Tánaiste could respond to that in his summing up. My comrade, Deputy Carthy, has already outlined his concerns, and I am sure the Tánaiste will address those too.

We also saw the huge pride the Naval Service men and women had on their return from Operation Sophia and in the part they played in saving lives at sea. I want the Naval Service men and women to feel that same pride in themselves on their return from Operation Irini.

Deputy Brendan Howlin

The Labour Party accepts that it is important for the Naval Service to have the same opportunity to have overseas experience as the Army has enjoyed for a very long time. However, I have a couple of concerns about this particular motion. I would ask the Tánaiste to address some of them. Obviously, one of these relates to the capacity of the Naval Service to deploy one of our four seagoing vessels that are operational at this moment and its personnel to the Mediterranean. We have, as the Tánaiste will be aware, six ships, the LÉ Róisín and LÉ Niamh, which are large patrol vessels, and four Samuel Beckett-class patrol vessels, available to us.

It is interesting that those four vessels were actually built at a time when the country was broke, but a commitment was made to ensure the Naval Service had vessels. Two more vessels are coming from New Zealand. They will not be operational until next year. They will be inshore patrol vessels. No clear decision has yet been presented to us about a replacement multipurpose vessel for the retired flagship, LÉ Eithne. At at time when we have 770 naval personnel and the minimum required is over 1,000, can the Tánaiste assure us that, with the real demands on the Naval Service to patrol our maritime exclusion zone and economic zone, which is ten times the size of our landmass, it will be capable of meeting them? As we have heard, there have been occasions since January when one vessel has been available to carry out patrols. That becomes much more focused in the context of concerns about Russian vessels looking at offshore wind facilities and communication facilities. We really need to ensure that we have the capacity to do our own business in our own territorial waters to a degree which we are clearly not able to do now. I would like to have a proper debate on that matter.

The second issue is that while the purpose of this operation, namely, to interdict the flow of arms into Libya, is important and to be lauded, the Tánaiste's commitment to the effect that it is not intended that the Naval Service will engage in capacity-building for the Libyan Coast Guard is vital. The Libyan Coast Guard has been completely discredited. I wish I had time to put some of the evidence that I have on the record, but I cannot do so in the remaining two minutes available to me. I want to quote one nurse who worked for Médecins Sans Frontières. She is from the Tánaiste's county, Cork. She said that when she was working on a boat off the Libyan coast, on one occasion she witnessed a boat in distress being pushed back by the Libyan Coast Guard. She said it was one of the worst moments of her life, that they were instructed not to approach the scene by the Libyan Coast Guard and that even though they were in their rescue gear, ready to go, they could not do anything to help. She said they had to sit back and watch survivors being transported back to Libya, which is not a place of safety, contrary to humanitarian law. She said it was hard to take and that they know people will be taken back to prison warehouses.

We need to be clear in the motion before the House that Irish Naval Service personnel will not be training members of the Libyan Coast Guard. As stated, the latter has been discredited. I would like the Tánaiste to be clear that not only is it not intended to do so, but that it is expressly prohibited under the motion for Irish Naval Service personnel to be involved in such training.

Those are my two concerns. One is the capacity of Ireland to do the job at hand, which is clearly not the case at the moment with the vessels and personnel we have, and how it will be impacted further in this regard by the deployment of a vessel to Libya. Second, if we are to do that, a clear commitment must be given that under no circumstances in the future, even if the training of the Libyan Coast Guard becomes a feature of this mission, since the latter is a secondary criterion, will Irish personnel be involved. I would welcome a clear commitment to the House that this is not only the Tánaiste's intention, but that there will be a clear instruction in this regard to the Naval Service personnel deployed on this mission.

Deputy Micheál Martin

I have to leave for the Upper House for statements on the report of the independent review group. This debate started 15 or 20 minutes later than-----

Deputy Paul Murphy

Is there a commitment?

Deputy Brendan Howlin

The Tánaiste might just-----

Deputy Micheál Martin

I am not answering questions. I am just making the point that I have to leave.

Deputy Brendan Howlin

Before the Tanaiste-----

Deputy Micheál Martin

Please do not. The Minister of State, Deputy Burke, will respond. I have made my commitment.

Deputy Paul Murphy

If it is not intended, then why the commitment?

Deputy Micheál Martin

I made my original statement. I am just alerting the Chair-----

Deputy Brendan Howlin

Would the Tánaiste like to provide clarity?

Deputy Micheál Martin

The Deputy knows the rules of the House as well as anyone.

Deputy Brendan Howlin

The Tánaiste is standing up talking against the rules of the House. He has already contributed to the debate.

Deputy Micheál Martin

I was just explaining. If I left without explaining, people might say I was being disrespectful.

Deputy Brendan Howlin

Will the Tánaiste not simply say that it is prohibited?

Deputy Paul Murphy

No, because it is not.

Deputy Gary Gannon

I move amendment No. 1:

To insert the following after "UN mandate/authority for the mission":

"and all maritime units deployed are subject to the obligation under international law to provide assistance to persons in distress at sea."

Because I believe in certainty when it comes to these things, I have tabled an amendment to the motion. The amendment is very simple. It states, "all maritime units deployed are subject to the obligation under international law to provide assistance to persons in distress at sea." It is a short amendment to the end of the resolution that we have been given, and I will press it. I do not believe and I do not think anyone around the Chamber believes, so I do not think I am unique in this, that saving lives in the Mediterranean Sea should ever be considered a secondary mandate of any mission. It is with that in mind that I will press an amendment, if possible. The amendment is important because this month alone, those involved in Operation Irini have helped to recuse more than 1,200 refugees and migrants in distress. That has happened four times during this particular mandated term. In the first year, the operation did not interfere in any way, shape or form. Much of this comes down to the decision taken in the German Bundestag to add an amendment similar to that in my name. As a result of that, we have seen rescue missions take place.

I want to challenge the assumption that taking part in these missions alone will improve the morale of the Naval Service. I remember visiting Haulbowline about 18 months ago and talking to our proud Naval Service men and women there. They were incredibly proud of the work they undertook during Operation Sophia. It was the part of their time in the Naval Service they pointed to as their proudest moment because they saved lives and took people out of harm's way. It is laudable to a degree to take part in a mission relating to an arms embargo in Libya. However, we must also be realistic. Looking at where arms are coming into Libya from the east, the majority come through the air, supported by the horrendous Wagner Group of the Russian Federation. We can see that we can actually play a part here by saving lives. We cannot simply say that we are deploying our personnel to the Mediterranean and that they should avoid people in distress. That is not the tradition of the Irish Naval Service or the Defence Forces. We place ourselves in harm's way in the name of peace and the preservation of life. I have tabled an amendment. I hope we can include it in the motion. It will actually make a difference to the Irish mandate. We will not be unique since the German mandate from the Bundestag is already in place. However, it is important that when we send them to the Mediterranean, our personnel will have a mandate from this Parliament to save lives. That makes a difference. I will press the amendment and hope that other Deputies will support me in respect of it.

Other points have been made about the Libyan Coast Guard. We have all been contacted by Médecins Sans Frontières. We need to be unequivocal in, potentially, passing the motion, to the effect that our Naval Service will in no way play a part in legitimising the regime of terror that has been inflicted on migrants who attempted to escape persecution in Libya or elsewhere coming through and seeking sanctuary. Some of these people have then been returned to detention camps and subjected to horrendous abuse, as highlighted by Deputy Howlin in his testimony.

We need certainty in respect of this matter. I am protective when it comes to the men and women of our Naval Service and the role they play in missions of this type. If this is a role to safeguard lives, then we can proudly do that, which is why I tabled the amendment. I hope it will be supported by the Government and across the Chamber, if possible. It simply brings certainty to and will substantiate our role in respect of this matter.

Deputy Paul Murphy

As matters stand, we oppose this motion. If we can get something that actually amounts to a commitment that the Irish forces and Naval Service personnel will not be engaged in any capacity-building or training of the Libyan Coast Guard, then we could support this. That is not what we have at the moment. We should be clear on that. Let those of us in opposition not fool ourselves that we have a commitment. Instead, in the Tánaiste stated that it is not intended that Naval Service personnel will be involved. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, to clarify the position in this regard. If the intention changes, there is no legal requirement to come back for another vote here. We will have given the approval, the triple lock will be unlocked, and there will be no necessity for another vote.

That is a fundamental problem because I understand it is the case that Irish forces have already been involved in training the Libyan Coast Guard. Clearly, European forces have been extensively involved in capacity building and training of the Libyan Coast Guard under Irini. I will read into the record some of what the Libyan Coast Guard has got up to. There have been horrendous abuses of human rights pushing back more than 40,000 men, women and children into detention camps where there are inhumane conditions, torture and so on. This is part of the very ugly face of the European Union's fortress Europe policy. It is part of the so-called externalising of Europe's borders by effectively outsourcing the dirty work to forces such as the Libyan Coast Guard to keep migrants from crossing the Mediterranean. We know about all the horrendous deaths there.

I will quote from the UN Report of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya published on 1 October 2021. The report found:

reasonable grounds to believe that acts of murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts committed against migrants form part of a systematic and widespread attack directed at this population, in furtherance of a State policy. As such, these acts may amount to crimes against humanity.

To be clear, that is a reference to acts by the Libyan Coast Guard. The report further states: "This finding is made notwithstanding the responsibility that may be borne by third States, and further investigations are required ... to establish the role of all those involved". The conditions in detention centres are described as "intolerable" and consciously "calculated to cause suffering and the desire to utilize any means of escape, including by paying large sums of money to militias, criminal gangs, traffickers and smugglers who have links to the State and profit from this practice." The report explains that the interceptions of the Libyan Coast Guard are:

violent or reckless, resulting at times in deaths. There are reports that, on board, the Libyan Coast Guard confiscates belongings from migrants. Once disembarked, migrants are either transferred to detention centres or go missing, with reports that people are sold to traffickers. Interviews with migrants formerly held in detention centres of the Department for Combating Illegal Migration established that all migrants – men and women, boys and girls – were kept in harsh conditions, some of whom die. Some children are held with adults, placing [them] ... at high risk of abuse. Torture (such as electric shocks) and sexual violence (including rape and forced prostitution) are prevalent. Although the detention of migrants is founded in Libyan domestic law, migrants are detained for indefinite periods without an opportunity to have the legality of their detention reviewed, and the only practicable means of escape is by paying large sums of money to the guards or engaging in forced labour or sexual favours inside or outside the detention centre for the benefit of private individuals. Several interviewees ... [described] that they had endured the same cycle of violence, in some cases up to 10 times, of paying guards to secure their release, taking part in an attempt at crossing the sea, being intercepted and subsequently being returned to detention in harsh and violent conditions, all the while under the absolute control of the authorities, militias and/or criminal networks.

Everyone can agree this is absolutely horrendous. We want a guarantee that Irish forces will have no role whatsoever in increasing the capacity of these people, or their training, to give them more facility to engage in this sort of horrendous practice.

Deputy Cathal Berry

I very much welcome the opportunity to make some comments on this very important debate on whether this House should authorise the dispatch of a naval vessel, LÉ William Butler Yeats, to the Mediterranean for approximately five weeks this summer.

I am supportive of the motion for a number of reasons. It is very important the arms embargo on Libya is maintained to maintain regional stability in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2635. It is also very important to recognise that Ireland voted for that resolution when we had a seat on the Security Council last year. It is good we are following through on that. We are not putting boots in the ground but we are putting a hull in the water, so to speak, and it is very important that we are following through on our commitments at the Security Council table. I also recognise the importance of the motion from an operational point of view. Many young sailors may not have been around for operations Pontus and Sophia. They are used to the north Atlantic but will now get additional expertise on the Mediterranean, which will be good for their personal and professional development.

My concerns are very similar to those already expressed in the House. We are leaving a gap in our defences on this island. While the Air Corps maritime squadron can provide some temporary filling of that gap, there is no substitute for hulls in the water or a maritime presence. We need to get our Naval Service back up to more than 1,000 people as soon as possible. From a welfare point of view, I welcome the fact there is a commitment, which I presume will be delivered on, that the overseas armed peace support allowance will be paid from day one, unlike what happened in previous deployments to the Mediterranean. There is, however, still a query regarding patrol duty allowance, PDA. There were considerable discussions recently about perhaps doubling this allowance. It is only €60 a day, which works out at approximately €1.20 per hour after tax. It would be great if we got a commitment that PDA will be sorted before the LÉ William Butler Yeats deploys to the Mediterranean. Providing proper pay so that people can afford to stay is the only way to address the recruitment and retention crisis in the Naval Service.

From an Operation Irini point of view, I wish the ship, LÉ William Butler Yeats, its commander, Lieutenant Commander Paul Hegarty, and the crew the very best on their important deployment. Most importantly, I wish their families well. They will obviously hold the fort at home before the ship returns safely from foreign waters.

I will address the issue of Sudan in my remaining two and a half minutes. It is a country that is south east of Libya. I ask the Minister of State to pass on my gratitude to the Tánaiste for the clarity he brought to proceedings yesterday, when he spoke from Luxembourg on national radio and stated that these non-combatant evacuation operations, NEO, are classed as humanitarian in nature and do not require the triple lock to be satisfied. The Tánaiste cut through many layers of bureaucracy, pontification and paralysis, and assured the country we do not need to limit the number of troops we deploy to 12, which is very important.

I also thank Deputy Boyd Barrett - perhaps Deputy Paul Murphy will pass this on to him - who made a very solid and sound commitment on Newstalk yesterday stating he was in favour of getting large freighter-style aircraft so that we can rescue Irish citizens abroad and deploy our troops. To be fair to him, that is a consistent position Deputy Boyd Barrett has held for the past three years. When Deputy Kehoe was Minister of State at the Department of Defence, and a battalion of Irish troops was stranded in Lebanon, Deputy Boyd Barrett was keen to get the proper resources so we could fly them home as soon as possible.

From a legal perspective, these evacuation operations are good. From a political perspective, they have the backing of the House. The question is that from a financial perspective, they do not have that backing. By any measure, the deployment of our troops over the past few days has been suboptimal. That is probably the best way I could describe it and the most generous fashion. We need more investment in our armed forces. We are a complete outlier on this in comparison with our European Union colleagues. It is just not good enough. We are compromising the health and wellbeing of our armed forces, while our citizens are on the ground at present trying to get rescued.

I pass on my compliments to our troops and diplomats in Djibouti and beyond. They epitomise what the Irish public service and our troops are like. It is the concept of the humble hero. They never look for or seek recognition and neither do their families at home. The very least they deserve is the gratitude of this House and I am very happy to give it.

Deputy Michael Collins

The Cabinet has now approved the deployment of an Irish naval vessel to the Irini overseas deployment mission. The proposal must be approved by the Dáil, hence the requirement for today's motion. The Government's decision, subject to Dáil approval, is to approve the deployment of a Naval Service vessel to Operation Irini in June and July. Defence Forces management has welcomed news of the mission, with a recent statement from it indicating the ship would deploy in June and July. The LÉ William Butler Yeats has been identified as the naval asset set to deploy for this operation.

The crew has already undergone a period of work in order to be mission ready as such. What I cannot understand is that we do much talking about what we are going to do but recently there were two Russian cargo vessels off our coast and we could do absolutely nothing, only stand idly by and wave out at them. They were sending a threat. They were continuously moving up and down off our coast. At one stage, they were 30 nautical miles off County Kerry. It is unbelievable to think that we are not set up to monitor this and to ensure the safety of our people and the equipment that is out there. There is a communication cable between Ireland and Europe and Ireland and the US and that is why they continue to monitor and trawl up and down outside that area, which they have no right to do. I do not think we have had any explanation as yet as to why two Russian ships carried out this work. We seem to be picking up intelligence from elsewhere. That is the only way we have to find out how we monitor these things. Our Defence Forces are unable to do that. We are being told that we are unable to send a naval ship because of the current problems in Haulbowline in Cork in terms of crewing shortages. That is an astonishing situation in which we find ourselves. While we want to go across the world to help others, we certainly have not looked after our own. Apparently we do not have sonar capability on our own vessels. That only happened a few weeks ago. It was not months or years ago. Many media personnel have contacted me; I do not know why. I suppose I often speak about it. We had the Russians off the coastline of Ireland some time ago and the fishermen sorted that problem out. We need answers to these questions, however.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

I too want to contribute to this debate. I am very dubious about it. I want to salute ar an gcéad dul síos the men and women of our navy. I wish them well and safe passage. The fact is that we are down to almost 700 people, and we are supposed to have 1,000 as a minimum. We have neglected the men and women of the Naval Service and, indeed, our Army. We have paid them badly and allowed a brain drain and skills to be robbed elsewhere. Then, we want to be involved in every kind of mission on show.

I do not support what the Libyan Coast Guard does. Indeed, it has been a long time since Charles J. Haughey sat down in a tent with the late Colonel Gaddafi and made a beef deal. At that time we had relations with them, and we were able to do that. Today, however, they are cowboys, and many atrocities are going on there. For us to send a vessel out and to be reduced to only one vessel at home is quite reckless, and without cast iron guarantees to this House that they will not in any shape or form be assisting or training or having any kind of association with the Libyan Coast Guard. We have heard stories recounting the awful things it did. Personnel stood idly by and pushed refugees back and everything else. We have to cut a cloth according to measure. We are attaching our wagon too much to these big issues as if we were some kind of superpower. As Deputy Michael Collins and others said, we cannot defend our own huge shoreline and fishermen. It was up to the fishermen to go out to the Russian boats in County Cork approximately one year ago.

I, too, wish all the diplomats and their families and friends in Sudan well. Hopefully, they will all get home. We were badly exposed again, however. We did not have an aeroplane or a ship or anything to get them out. We are depending on the goodwill of our neighbours, France, Spain and other countries, to get those good public officials out and try to get them to safety. Then, hey presto, we have said we will send out 12 Army personnel. One would think we were sending out a flotilla or a battalion; it was 12. We should be ashamed of ourselves. We want to be attached to all the things that are going on in Ukraine while dancing up and down and paying homage to the Prime Minister there. We are running out and back in a Ukrainian friendship club and we cannot even support our own Army and navy at home. That is what is going on here and it is a mockery and a sham.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Seán Canney)

I thank Deputy McGrath. The Independent Group is next. Deputy Connolly has five minutes.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate. I will start with context and numbers. Since search and rescue, SAR, under Operation Sophia was ended in March 2019, 8,059 people have gone missing in the Mediterranean. If we take a slightly longer period, 26,377 migrants are missing in the Mediterranean as of 19 April 2014. Some 619 people are missing to date, including 58 children. According to the International Organization for Migration, IOM, quarter 1 of this year in the 21st century was the deadliest first quarter on record since 2017. There are 108 people missing so far in 2023 as of 18 April of whom 13 are women and children.

We heard a speech today from the Tánaiste who I know had to go to the Seanad, which is unfortunate, because I never like criticising in the absence of the person. He clearly told us that there is no humanitarian aspect to this. Notwithstanding the irony that I understand the word "irini" is the Greek word for peace, Operation Irini has no mandate for search and rescue vessels. To lighten that, he told us that, "It operates on the high seas and in areas that do not attract such activity." "Such activity" means drowning, starving and lost. We do not name anything like that anymore, however, because that is what is uncomfortable for us. He told us that it is "intended" that this operation will not train the Libyan Coast Guard. I am certainly not happy with the word "intended" because, clearly, that is what the operation is about. When I did my research with my office, part of this is to train the Libyan Coast Guard. Now, however, we intend not to do that. It is another little Irish solution to an Irish problem.

All the time, we are undoing what we were doing very well with proud naval people carrying out search and rescue. They did it so well and took great pride in it; they did us proud. We are undoing all of that slowly and meticulously. The worst part for me, however, is that we are doing it with the misuse of language. We are talking about peace when we have no more interest in peace. We are twisting language. Then, we look, and we ignore. We choose to talk about the triple lock, which is good, and the UN resolution, which I support, but we ignore the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Türk, who recently called for an expansion in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean after an increase in the number of people making the journey. The IOM Director General, Mr. António Vitorino, said that, “The persisting humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is intolerable ... with more than 20,000 deaths." I am reliably informed from the sources I have checked that the figure is 25,000-plus. Mr. Vitorino went on to say, "I fear that these deaths have been normalized ... Delays and gaps [and obstruction] in State-led SAR [programmes] are costing human lives.”

As has been said, the EU is doing deals with third countries like Libya and Turkey, and we are outsourcing our responsibility. This is led by Mr. Josep Borrell who talks of Europe as a garden while outside is the jungle. These are the words of Borrell. I do not need to exaggerate them. I do need to repeat them to show where Europe is going. I am a proud European with connections with Germany on a long-term basis. I have to stand here and proclaim that when we dare to raise questions as to where Europe is going in terms of building up Fortress Europe, because that is what is happening. That is what I have seen happening, with more and more money going into it. We look back at our proud record and we look back to the shared language when language meant something. "Mare Nostrum" meant "Our Sea"; belonging to all of us. The Italian Government, with financial support, looked to save people and, obviously, too much responsibility and burden played on Italy. We moved forward to Operation Pontus, which we took part in with Italy, a humanitarian search and rescue operation. We moved forward to 2017 when Operation Pontus became Operation Sophia. It is interesting that we use a woman's name when we are reducing our commitment to human rights and a humanitarian response under Operation Sophia, and we do that with a female name.

My time stops me. I will not support this until it is absolutely crystal clear that we will not be training the Libyan Coast Guard. Its record in this area has already been pointed out by Deputy Paul Murphy.

At the very least, we need an absolute guarantee, not to mention my other concerns.

Minister of State at the Department of Defence (Deputy Peter Burke)

On behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Deputy Micheál Martin, I thank Members of the House for their engagement in this debate. Today's debate is about a specific issue, the deployment of an Irish naval vessel and its crew to an important EU mission in the Mediterranean. Participation in overseas missions by our Defence Forces is a key element of Ireland's foreign policy and has been an important dimension of meeting Ireland's international obligations as a member of the EU and UN. It is appropriate that the Dáil would have the opportunity, not alone to discuss but to endorse such an important decision. Irish foreign policy has directed and supported cooperative arrangements for elective security through development of international organisations, especially the United Nations, and supports effective international action in areas such as disarmament, peacekeeping, development and human rights. This approach continues to define Irish priorities. Ireland remains willing to play a full role in contributing to the security of Europe and around the world. Today's debate is also an opportunity for the House to commend the women and men of the Irish Defence Forces for their long-standing commitment to overseas service and to thank them for their significant contribution to UN and EU missions over the years.

As we saw again only last December with the tragic killing of Private Seán Rooney, serving overseas in the pursuit of peace is not without its risks. With the approval of this House, the Defence Forces' overseas contribution will be extended to include active implementation of the United Nations Security Council, UNSC, resolution on the arms embargo on Libya. In doing so, the Irish Naval Service will help to stem the flow of weapons into a volatile region and thus make a valuable contribution to the creation of conditions for permanent ceasefire in Libya.

The EU mandate for Operation Irini was recently renewed and extended until 31 March 2025. It is important to stress that the core and secondary tasks of the mission are all covered by UN mandate. In engaging with the UN-mandated EU mission, Ireland will play an active part in contributing to security and stability in the Mediterranean region. As the Tánaiste stated earlier, by working as part of this overseas mission, the Naval Service will gain valuable experience and benefit in terms of enhancing capability and interoperability with international naval forces. For absolute clarity, I confirm that at no point in the deployment will the mission involve the training of the Libyan Coast Guard and we will declare caveats to that effect before formally joining the mission. I put that clearly before the House.

Regarding Deputy Berry's comments on the allowance, a non-taxable allowance will be paid for the duration of the mission, which is important. The Naval Service has also assured the Tánaiste, I understand, that it will maintain a patrol plan which will have two ships on the domestic patrols for 61% of the deployment period and one ship for the remaining 39%. The Naval Service currently has a fleet of six vessels. One ship, the LÉ Niamh, is in the process of a midlife refit, which is expected to be completed by quarter 3 this year. A second, LÉ Róisín, has been placed in operational reserve. Therefore, there are four operational ships which remain available.

I reiterate for the very reasons stated, as did the Tánaiste prior, that I believe the time is right for Ireland to deploy a Naval Service vessel to serve as part of the EU mission, Operation Irini. I urge the House to support the motion.

Amendment put.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Seán Canney)

In accordance with Standing Order 80(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 26 April 2023.