Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 February 2007
15 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Defence the reason the memorandum of understanding between Ireland and the other Nordic countries involved in the Nordic battlegroups has not been placed in the Dáil Éireann Library as promised by him in November 2006; and the progress in Ireland joining the Nordic EU battlegroup. [2926/07]
View answer34 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Defence the steps that have been taken to assist in Ireland’s participation in the EU battlegroup concept; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2788/07]
View answer38 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Defence if Irish soldiers have begun to participate in training for EU battlegroups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2806/07]
View answer257 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Defence the reason the memorandum of understanding between Ireland and the other Nordic countries involved in the Nordic battlegroups has not been placed in the Dáil Éireann library as promised by him in November 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3226/07]
View answer259 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Defence the steps that have been taken to assist in Ireland’s participation in the EU Battlegroup concept; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3319/07]
View answer276 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Defence the extent to which Irish troops have trained alongside EU or NATO troops in preparation for EU battlegroup deployment. [3277/07]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 34, 38, 257, 259 and 276 together.
Discussions on Ireland's participation in the Nordic Battlegroup are continuing with Sweden, which is the Framework Nation. There have been a number of detailed discussions between Department officials and the Defence Forces with their Swedish counterparts, including technical discussions on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU is an agreement between the participants comprising the Nordic Battlegroup, namely Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia, which sets out principles in relation to the operation, deployment and management of the Nordic Battlegroup. Sweden, on behalf of the Nordic Battlegroup, has advised that it will welcome a contribution from Ireland, subject to Ireland's agreement to sign the MoU for the Nordic Battlegroup, without amendment. We are currently finalising the letter of accession to the MoU on the Nordic Battlegroup. Once the letter of accession has been agreed and cleared by the Attorney General's Office, a process which is currently in train, it will be laid before Dáil Éireann. I plan to seek Dáil approval to sign the MoU in the coming weeks.
At this point in time we have agreed in principle the overall shape of our contribution to the Nordic Battlegroup. Our contribution will amount to some 80 to 100 personnel involving an E.O.D./I.E.D.D. team with its own security detail, together with staff posts at the Operational and Force headquarters. E.O.D./I.E.D.D. means Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Improvised Explosive Device Disposal respectively. E.O.D. relates to normal type munitions whereas I.E.D.D. generally refers to devices devised by terrorist groups, such as car bombs etc.
This level of operational commitment will only arise should the Battlegroup be called on to undertake an operation. The number of personnel involved operationally during the standby period, where the Battlegroup has not been mobilised to undertake an operation, will be of the order of 10 personnel. As part of the initial preparatory and familiarisation phase of the Nordic battlegroup, the first member of the Defence Forces to be deployed to the Force Headquarters in Sweden is due to take up duty next month.
Any contribution to a Battlegroup will be met within the context of the overall ceiling of 850 personnel serving overseas at any one time set in the White Paper on Defence and will have no adverse impact on our existing peace support operations.
Most Battlegroup training will take place in the contributing member States — i.e. Irish troops will mainly be trained in Ireland. That said, some level of joint training with other Battlegroup elements will be required. It is planned that joint training of the Nordic Battlegroup elements, including field manoeuvres, will take place in Sweden in September/October 2007 for a period of approximately 3 to 4 weeks. This is the only joint field training envisaged. There are no plans, proposals nor any requirement for field training with NATO troops or troops from other EU countries in the context of our participation in the Nordic Battlegroup. Sweden, on behalf of the other participating States, has also accepted that there will be no joint training exercises in Ireland.
Irrespective of our participation in the Nordic Battlegroup in 2008, possible participation in future Battlegroups with other EU partners is also under active consideration.
