Vol. 576 No. 3
41 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence if he will rule out Defence Forces personnel participation in Petersberg Tasks involving support to other states in counter-terrorist or counter-insurgency operations, if the Petersberg spectrum is expected to include such operations. [29494/03]
The Petersberg Tasks, as currently constituted, include humanitarian, rescue and peacekeeping tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management tasks, including peacemaking.
In accordance with the Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1960, as amended by the Defence (Amendment) Act 1993, and stated Government policy, participation by Defence Forces personnel in overseas peace-support operations requires UN authorisation, a specific Government decision and, where the level of participation is to exceed 12, the approval of Dáil Éireann.
Currently, there is a proposal in the draft EU constitution to expand the Petersberg Tasks to include joint disarmament operations, humanitarian and rescue tasks, military advice and assistance tasks, conflict prevention and peacekeeping tasks, tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking, support action in combating terrorism at the request of a third country and post-conflict stabilisation.
The Deputy will appreciate that this is a proposal which has yet to be considered and discussed in the context of the ongoing Intergovernmental Conference, Intergovernmental Conference, which my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, attends.
Notwithstanding the eventual outcome of the Intergovernmental Conference, the current requirements for Defence Forces participation in overseas peace-support operations, that is UN authorisation, specific Government decision and, where the level of participation is to exceed 12, the approval of Dáil Éireann will continue to apply.
