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Overseas Missions.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 January 2005

Wednesday, 26 January 2005

Questions (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

99 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Defence if he will propose changes to the Defence (Amendment) Act 1960 in order to allow Irish troops participate in the EU’s proposed rapid reaction battle groups; if such changes would alter the triple lock procedure by which Irish troops operate in activities abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1509/05]

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Liam Twomey

Question:

115 Dr. Twomey asked the Minister for Defence if he has had recent discussions with his European Union counterparts with regard to the formation of EU battlegroups; when he considers that such battlegroups will be operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1535/05]

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Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

118 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence his plans to change the legal and constitutional position to allow Irish troops to be deployed internationally without the requirement of a UN mandate. [1514/05]

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Dan Boyle

Question:

137 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Defence if he will propose changes to the Defence (Amendment) Act 1960 in regard to the deployment of Irish troops abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1519/05]

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Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

1272 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence the details of the command and control structure of the EU battle groups; and the persons who would command Irish troops. [1641/05]

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Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

1273 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence the regions and countries that fall outside the proposed 2,500 mile deployment zone for EU battle groups and the non-EU regions and countries that are included within it. [1642/05]

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Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

1275 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence the persons with whom his Department officials are liaising with regard to Irish participation in EU battle groups; the persons who are on the interdepartmental committee dealing with this issue; when it was set up; the number of meetings it has conducted; and if he will report on its recommendations. [1644/05]

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Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

1282 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Defence the extent to which he has had discussions with his EU or UN colleagues in the matter of a rapid reaction force or any similar body likely to be asked to undertake peacekeeping, peace enforcement or humanitarian assignments on a large scale; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2001/05]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 99, 115, 118, 137, 1272, 1273, 1275 and 1282 together.

I refer Deputies to my reply to this House on this very subject on 17 November last. The position remains as I outlined at that time.

The background to the rapid response elements concept, commonly referred to as the "battlegroups", is that at the European Council in Helsinki in 1999, member states set themselves a headline goal, that is, that "by the year 2003, co-operating together and voluntarily, they will be able to deploy rapidly and then sustain forces capable of the full range of Petersburg Tasks as set out in the Amsterdam Treaty"— that is, in short, humanitarian, rescue, peacekeeping and crisis management operations including peacemaking. This included, inter alia, a capability to provide “rapid response elements available and deployable at very high readiness”. The ambition of the EU, to be able to respond rapidly to emerging crises, has and continues to be a key objective of the development of the European Security and Defence Policy, ESDP.

The EU has learned from historical experiences in the Balkans and Africa and wants to be able to react faster when crises develop. This was effectively illustrated last year by the EU's first autonomous military operation, which was conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The operation, undertaken at the request of the United Nations Secretary General, and which deployed in very rapid circumstances, was successful in contributing to the stabilisation of the security environment and the improvement of humanitarian conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

During his visit to Dublin in October 2004, UN Secretary General, UNSG, Kofi Annan underlined the extent to which he believes regional organisations, such as the EU, can contribute to the UN's requirements in the crisis management area.

Deputies will also recall, in his address to the forum on Europe on 14 October, that the UNSG specifically welcomed the development of EU capabilities in the context of European Security and Defence Policy and stressed the importance of strengthened EU capacities, in particular rapid deployment capabilities, to the UN. He also highlighted Ireland's pivotal role during our Presidency of the European Union in promoting co-operation between the EU and the United Nations in crisis management and in particular the potential use of EU rapid response elements to support UN peacekeeping operations.

In this context, if we do not seek to establish how best Ireland may make a meaningful contribution to the rapid response elements initiative we would be departing from our traditional policy of full support to the UN.

As I indicated in my reply to the House on 17 November, at the Cabinet meeting of 16 November, the Government agreed that I should advise my EU counterparts of Ireland's preparedness to enter into consultations with partners with a view to potential participation in rapid response elements. A Military Capabilities Commitment Conference was held on 22 November 2004 at which member states committed up to 13 battlegroup formations, which will be available to deploy to crisis situations within a five to ten day period from 2005 onwards. The five to ten day period begins from the date of a decision by the EU Council to launch an operation. However, it is to be expected that a crisis would normally have a longer gestation period during which the UN Security Council would have sufficient opportunity to decide on a UN mandate.

In order to fully assess the implications associated with such participation, I have established an interdepartmental group, which includes representatives of my Department, the Defence Forces, the Taoiseach's Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General's office. This group met in December and has established three sub-groups to address the policy, legislative and operational issues arising. The work of these sub-groups will span some months due to the fact that the rapid response elements concept is still evolving and a complete picture of all other member states' proposed involvement is not yet available. Following completion of the necessary analysis I intend returning to Government with proposals regarding the level of any proposed participation.

One must bear in mind the Defence Forces are currently in Liberia in a UN operation, in Kosovo in a NATO led operation, in Bosnia in a EU led operation and that rapid responsive elements are but one aspect of EU capabilities to assist in crisis management.

The rapid response concept raises many issues not alone for Ireland, but also for other EU member states, such as legal issues; operational, training, deployability, rotation and timeframe issues — multinational RREs will not be operational before 2007 and some as late as 2010; and decision-making issues, in particular how to preserve the integrity of national decision-making.

Once again, I stress that the question of Ireland's participation in rapid response elements will remain subject to the usual requirements of a Government decision, Dáil approval and UN authorisation and I have no plans to change that position.

Róisín Shortall

Question:

100 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Defence his views on whether it is necessary to alter the wording of the section of the Defence Act permitting Irish involvement in an international or United Nations force, such as EUFOR, to reflect that such operations are established under the authority of the UN Security Council rather than by the Security Council; his further views on whether there is a distinction between operating in a force established by and one established under the authority of the UN Security Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1511/05]

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There are two types of UN missions on which members of the Permanent Defence Forces have been deployed. The first is the traditional "UN Blue-Hat" mission, established by the Security Council of the United Nations or the UN General Assembly. UNIFIL in Lebanon and UNMIL in Liberia are examples of such missions. The second type are missions authorised to be established by the Security Council of the United Nations or the UN General Assembly. KFOR in Kosovo, EUFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina and ISAF in Afghanistan are examples of such missions, where a regional organization, such as NATO or the EU, assembles the force and deploys it under the authorisation of the UN.

The advice to me from the Attorney General is that the Defence Acts are not an impediment to the Government dispatching members of the Permanent Defence Force on either type of mission and, as such, the necessity for any change in the provisions of the Defence Acts does not arise. In accordance with the provisions of the Defence Acts, Ireland's participation in these missions has only been undertaken following UN authorization, Government approval and, where required, the approval of Dail Éireann, the so called "triple lock". There are no plans to depart from or amend these arrangements.

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