Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 April 2004
192 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence the implications for Defence spending in the State of the establishment of the EU Armaments Agency agreed in November 2003; if the cost projections have been done, including the expected costs to the Exchequer; if so, if he will report on the results; if not, when they will be done; and if they will be published. [10908/04]
View answerI refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 3 of 25 March last which related to the impact to date on defence spending of EU defence measures and the anticipated impact on defence spending over the next ten years by EU defence-related measures and commitments.
As I stated in my reply, the Government's White Paper on Defence, published in February 2000, set out a medium-term strategy for defence covering the period up to 2010. A major objective of the strategy is to ensure that Ireland has a world-class military organisation capable of carrying out the roles assigned to it by the Government, both at home and abroad. This objective requires an ongoing modernisation process, including an investment programme to ensure that the Defence Forces are properly equipped for these roles.
In seeking to modernise the Defence Forces in accordance with the objectives of the White Paper, I have been fully conscious of the need to obtain the best possible efficiencies from existing resources, and have reported to the House on many occasions on the methods by which this has been achieved.
The conclusions of the Thessaloniki European Council tasked the appropriate bodies of the Council to undertake the necessary actions towards creating, in the course of 2004, an intergovernmental agency in the field of defence capabilities development, research, acquisition and armaments. On 17 November 2003 the General Affairs and External Relations Council, GAERC, decided that this work would be supported by an agency establishment team which has since been set up by the SG/HR Javier Solana, and is working under his authority.
As part of the mandate for the incoming Presidency, the European Council held in Brussels in December 2003 invited the Irish Presidency to take forward work on the further development of European military capabilities including, "To advance the establishment, in the course of 2004, of an Agency in the field of defence capabilities development, research, acquisition and armaments."
Discussions on the establishment of the agency are continuing at EU level and will be included on the agenda of the informal meeting of Defence Ministers in Brussels on 5 and 6 April 2004. While much of the detail in regard to structure and functions of the agency has yet to be agreed, participation by respective member states in the Agency — as in all aspects of ESDP — will be voluntary.
As I have said in the past, developments in this area may yield some future economies of scale or efficiencies in the procurement of defence equipment which I would obviously support. In that context the development of the agency may possibly be a development which will foster some cost/benefit improvements for future defence spending.
