Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 12 Dec 2002

Vol. 559 No. 3

Written Answers. - UN Memorandum of Understanding.

John Gormley

Ceist:

50 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Defence the reason Ireland, unlike a number of other countries, has not as yet followed up its signing of a memorandum of understanding with the UN in relation to the UN standby arrangements system by formally submitting a list of capabilities, describing the resources Ireland will make available, the tasks which can be performed, the number of personnel, the response time and completing a planning data sheet, a detailed list describing the contributions, levels of self-sufficiency, and movement data; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26092/02]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

In October, 1998, Ireland signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations in relation to the UN standby arrangements system (UNSAS). The arrangements to which the Deputy is referring are contained in an annex to the memorandum, which contains a detailed description of the type of resources Ireland has indicated that it will provide to the UN, the category and strength of the 850 personnel offered and the response time. In addition, the Defence Forces provide the UN, on a quarterly basis, with a detailed status report on the resources offered by Ireland in the format requested by the UN. The last such report was submitted to the UN on 24 September, 2002.