Defence Forces

Tuesday, 16 May 2023

Questions (202)

Matt Carthy

Question:

202. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the number of Defence Forces personnel who served overseas in the years 2017 to date; the average length of the deployment; by Air Corps, Naval Service and Army, by location, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22788/23]

View answer

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Defence

Despite the best efforts of my Department and the Defence Forces, it hasn't been possible to provide the information requested within the given timeframe.

However, the information requested is being collated and I will revert to the Deputy directly as soon as the information has been fully complied.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51:

I refer to the referenced Parliamentary Question in which you sought information in regards to Overseas deployments. As notified, it was not possible to collate the required information within the given timeframe for answer. I am now in a position to supply the requested data, in tabular form below, as provided to my Department by the military authorities.

1. The number of Defence Forces personnel who served overseas in the years 2017 to date.

Overseas Mission	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023 – to date
UNTSO (Middle East)	18	18	18	18	18	18	15
MINURSO (Western Sahara)	9	9	9	7	4	-	-
MONUSCO (Democratic Rep Congo)	12	12	12	9	9	6	-
UNOCI (Cote D'Ivoire)	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
UNIFIL HQ (Lebanon) *	60	39	18	18	18	18	60
UNIFIL Infantry Battalion (Lebanon)	1023	1125	1023	1020	1023	1023	340
UNIFIL Sector West HQ (Lebanon)	24	24	24	12	12	12	4
UNDOF Infantry Group (Golan Heights) *	390	390	390	390	390	390	259
UNDOF HQ (Golan Heights)	12	14	16	18	16	14	8
UNMAS	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
MINUSMA (Mali)	-	-	14	40	40	40	-
EUFOR (Bosnia & Herzegovina)	19	14	14	14	14	19	9
German-led Battlegroup 2020	10	-	10	10	10	-	-
UK led Battlegroup	5	-	-	-	-	-	-
EUTM Mali	56	60	59	60	60	54	22
Operations HQ/Floating HQ (Operation Sophia HQ)	9	11	13	6	-	-	-
Operations HQ/Floating HQ (Operation Irini HQ)	-	-	-	3	9	9	4
EUMAM UA	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
KFOR HQ	36	36	37	36	36	36	26
UNNY (New York) **	1	1	1	1	3	3	3
EUMS	4	5	6	6	8	9	9
NATO/PFP (Belgium)	5	5	6	7	7	3	3
Irish Delegation to OSCE (Vienna)	1	1	1	1	2	2	2
Military Reps (Brussels)	9	11	11	8	8	6	6
TOTAL PERSONNEL OVERSEAS	1704	1775	1682	1684	1687	1664	775

* Numbers based on average per each battalion deployment during the year.

** Includes Major General Maureen O’Brien serving on secondment to the United Nations following her appointment by the UN as Deputy Military Advisor in the Office of Military Affairs, Department of Peace Operations.

2. The average length of the deployment; by Air Corps, Naval Service and Army

Army	7.4 months
Naval Service	5.3 months
Air Corps	5.2 months