Billy Timmins
Ceist:19 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Defence if he will give details of his recent visit to Irish troops serving with the United Nations in the Middle East; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9361/98]
Other Questions. - Ministerial Trowel.
I visited Irish troops serving with the United Nations in Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria during the period 12 to 23 March 1998. The primary purpose of my visit was to see for myself the work of Irish military personnel serving in the region and to assure them, on behalf of the Government and the people, of how proud we are of the outstanding manner in which they have consistently performed their duties on United Nations service.
I spent three days in Cyprus during which I met the chief of mission and the assistant chief of staff of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus. I attended briefings by the assistant chief of staff of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus and the senior Irish officer in the force. I met the Cypriot Minister for Defence and also the Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism. I also attended a medal parade for Irish personnel.
Most of my visit was spent in the Lebanon where I met with the Lebanese Defence Minister, the Lebanese Chief of the Armed Forces and the UNIFIL Force Commander as well as other local representatives and dignitaries. In all of these discussions there was consistent praise for Irish troops and a desire that they should continue in service in south Lebanon. I toured the Irish area of operations, with which the Deputy is familiar, in the south of the country where I visited Irish UN posts and saw at first hand the conditions under which Irish troops are required to operate. Towards the end of my visit I met with the Syrian Minister for Defence in Damascus and also with Major General David Stapleton of the Permanent Defence Force who is Force Commander of the UN Disengagement Force, UNDOF. I was greatly impressed by the commitment of all our troops in the Middle East to the important work they are undertaking in the cause of international peace. I am pleased to report it was admitted on all sides that morale was tremendously high. I also had the honour of meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, in Damascus.
In view of the recently reported offer made by the Israeli Government early last month to withdraw from southern Lebanon, has the Minister considered how this might impact on our commitment to the area? Does he consider our commitment to the area will cease or increase? If it is to cease, has he discussed with the Chief of Staff other areas to which the Army may be deployed in peacekeeping missions?
I appear to be wasting my time here today because Deputies are either a few miles behind me or three or four miles in front of me.
The Minister is a man of vision.
I would dearly wish that we had reached the point where we could withdraw our troops from south Lebanon. This year we celebrated 20 years of consistent service there and approximately 27,000 personnel have served there. They have made an enormous contribution to creating the space necessary for infrastructural development and for life to return to normality.
When I was reviewing the 83rd infantry battalion two weeks ago I said I hoped that they might be the last battalion to go there, but we do not have any way of knowing if that will be the case. There are many obstacles to be overcome regarding security on the border, the enforcement of the United Nations resolution in that regard and other countries that have an interest in it. Nonetheless I look forward to the day when that permanent peace can be achieved. As to what will happen thereafter, it is too early at this stage to say where our troops will be deployed, not knowing how long more they will serve in south Lebanon. Unfortunately in the world in which we live there will continue to be difficulties in many places.
I have just returned from Bosnia where we have numbers of military police stationed. Our experience in peacekeeping, the military and diplomatic skills our troops have developed, their patience in working with others and the fact that we are not carrying any historical baggage mean they will be welcome in any part of the world their services will be needed. As to when our troops will cease to serve in south Lebanon and the decisions that will be taken about the redeployment of our troops, the House will decide on that, but for the time being our troops are serving in south Lebanon. They will serve there as long as they are needed to help secure a permanent peace and thereafter they will be deployed wherever the demand for their service arises.
During the Minister's trip to Lebanon I heard a brief extract from an interview with the Chief of Staff broadcast from there during which he said he hoped the Irish forces might be relocated in the former Yugoslavia. While I appreciate morale among our troops is high in Lebanon, does the Minister appreciate there is always a difficulty getting numbers to make up the full contingent? Has he any plans to deal with this? His predecessor said he would never force personnel to travel overseas despite a provision to that effect in the Defence (Amendment) Acts. Will the Minister comment on an announcement he made about an increase in the overseas allowance? Can I take it that increase is separate from an increase negotiated under the remit of Partnership 2000?
The Deputy referred to a radio interview with the Chief of Staff. Was it the Chief of Staff who announced an increase in the overseas allowance or is the Deputy suggesting I said there would be one? Over the past number of years there was a growing problem in meeting our full commitment to UNIFIL because numbers had fallen for many years. In the 82nd battalion Corporal Granville and Corporal Daly have served ten and 12 trips respectfully. It is exhausting the possibilities of interest to think that we could have growing numbers attaching themselves to contingents where that number of trips is required. The Deputy will be pleased to know that in the last battalion, the 82nd battalion, 169 young people travelled out on their first trip, the highest number in years, and this time the contingent was only 300. My policy of constant recruitment will ensure that we will not face the problem I inherited ever again.
Regarding the overseas allowance, in association with the representative organisations and under Partnership 2000 I hope I will have some scope to recognise and to make some small effort to help compensate those many soldiers, men and women, of whom I am immensely proud and who do much work for us. It will probably take some eight months to finalise that, but I am determined to do something for them this year.
The Minister acknowledged it is difficult to get troops to join the stabilisation force in the former Yugoslavia. Is that because of poor pay and conditions? Is it also true that the training required by PAs before they undertake this course of duty has been reduced from four weeks to two weeks and, if so, why is that the case?
The position in the former Yugoslavia is different. We were asked for a particular force, which was primarily military police. If the request from the United Nations was for significant numbers in that area, as numbers contract in the new emerging Defence Force, we would not have the numbers to meet that constant requirement of troops. We have sufficient numbers for the next contingent and perhaps the one after that. I had discussions with the force commander when I was in Sarajevo and I indicated that if our troops were required into the future we would like to send a mixed team to take account of the fact that we may still have troops stationed in south Lebanon. We have troops serving in Damascus, Cyprus and a significant commitment in personnel terms to the United Nations generally.
As the numbers have reduced here and because there may be too many troops in one area and too few in another and the distance between them is to too great for one to complement the other, in regard to the maintenance of the services we provide here, the overall management of the force must be taken into account. There are no difficulties at present in getting our contingent together for the former Yugoslavia. Problems will emerge in a few years' time. We have begun discussions to ensure that problem will be resolved in time to ensure our troops can continue the work they are doing.
Has the Minister reduced the timescale for training from four weeks to two weeks and, if so, is that due to difficulties in recruiting people because of pay and conditions?
That has been mentioned to me, but I do not have a strict military viewpoint on that. The Deputy will appreciate that in terms of UNIFIL a substantial number may serve four to six tours of duty. It is not necessary for those repeating a tour of duty to undergo the same training as new recruits. I will investigate to ascertain if it is a bottleneck problem and I will report back to the Deputy on it.
Are the Minister and his Department satisfied there are proper structures in place to deal with social problems among the families of serving personnel created by overseas service? I come from a constituency from which I have seen many serving personnel go overseas and I have seen problems created thereby.
There are two aspects to this matter. As far as the troops in UN service are concerned, there is fantastic camaraderie and they are great to each other. There can be little crises which they must overcome and they come quickly to one another's help.
Somebody who goes on such duty may find it a totally different experience from that anticipated and such persons need support. As the Deputy will be aware, small numbers return and it is important to have in place the support services for that.
As the Deputy rightly stated, we are greatly indebted to the families of troops who make many sacrifices. They do not have their husbands, partners, brothers, sisters, sons or daughters available for important occasions in their lives, and of course they are not there when there are extremely difficult problems in the home also. We must always acknowledge and appreciate that.
I am looking at the general counselling and support services to bring them into the new millennium in terms of current thinking about the resolution of the kinds of matters which the Deputy and I when we were growing up ignored completely. In a different world now, there are different kinds of pressures which need to be resolved. We need to be up to date in our approach. The professional services which are required to be called in are the ones which we have ourselves which need to be upgraded to cope.
I notice that in Sarajevo in former Yugoslavia all of the troops who went there remained. None had to come back. In the last battalion about 13 or 14 returned for different reasons, some due to illness, domestic matters or whatever.
Overseas service is a fracture in the home and it is something which must be looked at in a more considered and enlightened way. I would hope, therefore, to help to build on the existing services to take account of the type of problems to which the Deputy refers, which I accept exist.
Will the Minister support requests for Ireland to participate in what increasingly will be peace-enforcing missions? In that context, would he support Ireland's involvement in Partnership for Peace?
Has he considered a quick reaction force in cases where our Defence Forces would be asked to supply a group to deal with, for example, emergency humanitarian aid?
Deputy Fitzgerald, some of the supplementary questions do not relate to the particular question on the Order Paper.
This relates to one of them, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I am just doing badly.
We do not have the biggest responsibility in the world for humanitarian aid, but it is an area which we should try to develop more. We are on the ground. We are close to the communities. One of the things which interests me in the humanitarian aspect of it is that since the personnel are there, since they are already being paid and since they are working with the community, whatever humanitarian aid would be granted would go directly to the project and the return from it would be great. In Tibnin we have the orphanage development and there are so many other areas where the troops do so well.
As far as a quick reaction force is concerned, one of the reasons we need to modernise all the elements of the Defence Forces and have a more mobile, efficient, younger force is that it leaves a number of options open to future Governments to decide how to deploy these troops to meet whatever circumstance might arise which the Government would support in the context of our obligations to the UN.
As far as the Partnership for Peace is concerned, clearly that is a matter which would first be referred to the Department of Foreign Affairs and it is not a matter primarily for the Minister for Defence. It seems to be an evolving process which is beginning to look considerably different from what it was in the beginning in terms of its potential relationship with NATO. A number of countries have joined the Partnership for Peace. It is a matter which will return to the agenda again, but it is not something which is primarily my responsibility.
Is that a change in policy there?