Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 October 2012
158. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Defence the extent to which members of the Air Corps have participated in overseas missions; if he is committed to providing opportunities to members of the Air Corps to take part in overseas missions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43857/12]
View answerIn the context of the production of the first White Paper on Defence (2000), the issue of deploying the Air Corps assets on peace support operations was considered. It was decided at that time that, given the resources of the Air Corps and the demands on their services at home, that the Air Corps would not be deployed on overseas operations. However, that decision did not preclude individual members of the Air Corps being deployed on overseas peace support operations. During the past five years (01 October 2007 to 30 September 2012) a total of 160 deployments of Air Corps personnel to overseas missions occurred (see table below). It is my intention that Air Corps personnel will continue to be offered the opportunity of overseas service. In that regard, the Deputy may wish to note that as part of the new agreement on NCO promotions, a provision was inserted which is designed to deliver increased opportunities for Air Corps personnel to serve overseas as part of Defence Forces contingents.
|
MISSION |
OFFICERS |
ENLISTED PERS |
TOTAL |
|
EUFOR (EU-led Operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina) |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
EUFOR TCHAD/RCA (EU-led Operation in CHAD and the Central African Republic) |
|
52 |
52 |
|
EU Military Staff (Brussels) |
|
1 |
1 |
|
EUTM Somalia (EU-led Training Mission in Uganda) |
|
1 |
1 |
|
ISAF (International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan) |
3 |
3 |
6 |
|
KFOR (International Security Presence in Kosovo) |
|
34 |
34 |
|
MINURCAT (United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad) |
|
46 |
46 |
|
MONUC (United Nations Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo) |
1 |
|
1 |
|
OSCE Mission to Bosnia & Herzegovina |
1 |
|
1 |
|
UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) |
1 |
13 |
14 |
|
UNOCI (United Nations Mission in Ivory Coast) |
1 |
|
1 |
|
UNTSO (United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation) – Israel, Syria and Lebanon |
1 |
|
1 |
|
TOTAL |
9 |
151 |
160 |
