Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Dec 2000

Vol. 527 No. 3

Written Answers. - Overseas Missions.

Ivan Yates

Ceist:

131 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Defence the proposals he has to provide a postal or delivery service through the Army for personnel serving in the UN force in the Lebanon and the Middle East on peacekeeping duties; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there is currently no service available to serving officers there for Christmas other than normal personal postal arrangement which are both expensive and limited; and if he will provide special facilities in this regard for the Christmas period. [28735/00]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

Regular contact with home helps to sustain the high morale of our personnel serving overseas and facilitating communication with home is seen as a priority.

In the case of personnel serving in Lebanon with UNIFIL, the United Nations provides free postal facilities to Ireland for letters and small parcels. Each person is allowed five aerogrammes home per week. A parcel post service is available from UNIFIL to Ireland through the French post office in Naqoura. An Post charges a concessionary rate for postage of letters, postcards and newspapers from Ireland to UNIFIL. These items are charged at the ordinary foreign surface rate but are sent by air at no extra charge. These arrangements cater for the majority of personnel serving with overseas missions in the Middle East.

Irish Military personnel are paid an overseas peace support allowance at a rate which ranges from £30.95 per day for the rank of private, up to £42.55 per day for the rank of commandant and upwards. This allowance is paid, in part, in recognition of the increased living costs as a result of being stationed overseas. In the case of armed missions such as UNIFIL, a further allowance of £12.50 per day is paid in addition to the overseas peace support allowance.

There are no plans to introduce any additional postal facilities for Christmas.