Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 June 2004
71 Mr. Murphy asked the Minister for Defence the number of Irish Defence Forces personnel committed to the rapid reaction force; the ongoing progress being made towards assembling the RRF; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17847/04]
View answer92 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Defence if he will report on the progress towards the agreement of a common European defence strategy within the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17843/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 71 and 92 together.
Ireland's commitment to the Helsinki headline goal, which is the more accurate term for what is commonly referred to as the rapid reaction force, consists of an offer of up to 850 members of the Defence Forces from within our existing commitment of 850 personnel to the United Nations standby arrangements system, or UNSAS. I should stress that the commitment to the Helsinki headline goal should not be interpreted as an additional commitment of the Defence Forces to overseas operations. In that regard, national sovereignty is a fundamental underlying principle to participation in the European security and defence policy. Ireland will approach each proposed mission on a case-by-case basis and will only participate in operations authorised by the United Nations and with the approval of the Government and this House.
That commitment to international peacekeeping, humanitarian and crisis management operations represents some 10% of the Army and is a considerable undertaking by any standard. In that regard, almost 750 members of the Defence Forces are currently deployed overseas on peace support operations.
Ireland has been an active participant in the continued development of the European security and defence policy, or ESDP, and the Government remains committed to that participation. I should stress that the development of the ESDP does not amount to a common European defence strategy as suggested in Deputy Crawford's question.
I have reported to this House on previous occasions on the good progress which has been made during the Irish Presidency, and I welcome the opportunity to report on recent developments in this regard.
The adoption by the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting on 17 May 2004 of a new headline goal with a horizon of 2010 has been a key development during our Presidency.
In that regard, member states have decided to set themselves a new headline goal, reflecting the European security strategy, which was adopted by the heads of state and Government in Brussels in December 2003, taking into account the evolution of the strategic environment and drawing on lessons learned from previous EU-led crisis management operations. Member states have decided to commit themselves to be able by 2010 to respond with rapid and decisive action, applying a fully coherent approach to the whole spectrum of crisis management operations covered by the Treaty on the European Union. That includes humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks, and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking. Member states have also recognised that interoperability, deployability and sustainability must be at the core of member states' efforts and will be the driving factors of the 2010 headline goal.
The ability for the EU to deploy force packages at high readiness, commonly known as battle groups, as a response to a crisis, either as a stand-alone force or as part of a larger operation enabling follow-on phases, is also a key element of the 2010 headline goal. The development of such a rapid response capability for the European Union has also been an important focus for work during our Presidency.
I am particularly pleased that significant progress has been made regarding the development of the EU's relationship with the UN in accordance with the EU-UN joint declaration of 24 September 2003.
As I reported earlier today to the House, political agreement on the joint action establishing the European defence agency was reached at the GAERC meeting on 14 June 2004. It is now intended that formal adoption of the legal act to establish the agency will take place before the end of the Irish Presidency.
