Vol. 496 No. 4
185 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Defence the proposed mission to Kosovo, Serbia; the numbers of Defence Forces personnel involved; the role they will play in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23220/98]
The Kosovo verification mission was recently established by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. UN Security Council Resolution 1203 of 24 October 1998 welcomed the signing of the agreement between the OSCE Chairman in Office and the Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to establish the OSCE Kosovo verification mission.
Detailed plans are still being prepared by the OSCE in Vienna on all organisational aspects of the mission, including personnel requirements. Ireland is currently contributing expert personnel including one military officer who is serving with the OSCE in Vienna to the OSCE's special planning unit dedicated to this task.
Ireland has indicated its readiness, in principle, to contribute to the verification mission. In this connection the OSCE has a range of appointments in the planning/support unit which has been set up in Vienna which they wish to fill and my Department has been asked by the Department of Foreign Affairs to nominate personnel of the Permanent Defence Forces for selection for some of these specialist appointments. The precise size and composition of Ireland's contribution will depend on the needs of the mission, which are currently being identified by the OSCE, as well as the availability of resources. The mission will be unarmed and of a civilian character.
I refer the Deputy to the reply given to the House by my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, on 5 November 1998, in relation generally to the crisis in Kosovo as well as to the question of participation by the Defence Forces in the Kosovo verification mission.
