Vol. 471 No. 7
429 Mr. S. Brennan asked the Minister for Defence the procedure adopted in contracting carriers for transportation of Irish troops to and from United Nations peacekeeping duties; the nature of any tendering procedures involved; the number of such contracts in respect of each of the years from 1990 to 1996; the cost involved; the successful carriers involved; the number of tenders received on each occasion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21651/96]
The transportation of Irish troops serving with United Nations peacekeeping missions is arranged by the UN by direct contract or on a letter of assist (LOA) basis i.e. where the UN reimburses the troop contributing country. In the former case tenders are invited by the UN and are open to international competitive bidding. Details of the costs involved in such contracts, which are borne by the UN, together with the number of tenders received by the UN during the years 1990 to 1996 are not available to my Department.
In the case of rotations carried out on a letter of assist basis the contract for the conduct of the rotation is arranged by the troop contributing country. This procedure is only used in emergency situations or when there are strong operational reasons for a troop contributing country to organise the rotation itself. On the five occasions during the years 1990 to 1996 when the rotation was arranged on an LOA basis, Aer Lingus was awarded the contract.
A total of 14 contracts were arranged to cater for the bi-annual rotation of Irish troops during the year in question.
