I propose to take Questions Nos. 90, 98, 101, 103, 113, 138, 300, 306 and 307 together.
Following detailed discussions on Ireland's participation in the Nordic Battlegroup, Sweden, on behalf of the Nordic Battlegroup, advised that it will welcome a contribution from Ireland, subject to Ireland's agreement to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Nordic Battlegroup. The MoU is an agreement between the participants comprising the Nordic Battlegroup, namely Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia, which sets out principles in relation to the operation, deployment and management of the Nordic Battlegroup. The Attorney General has advised that Ireland can sign the MoU subject to Dáil approval. The letter of Accession to the MoU is currently being finalised and I plan to bring the MoU before the Dáil shortly.
The Nordic Battlegroup will be on standby from January 2008. The Force Commander and the headquarters staff for the Nordic Battlegroup will be based in Sweden. The Operational Force Commander and his staff will be based at UK facilities in Northwood for the duration of the stand-by period. As part of the initial familiarisation and training phase for the Nordic battlegroup, a member of the Defence Forces has been deployed to the Force Headquarters in Sweden since the end of February, working closely with personnel from other Battlegroup participants. Current plans envisage further Defence Force personnel deploying to the Force Headquarters and the Operational Headquarters later this year. However, the timeline for these deployments has not yet been finalised.
Our planned contribution to the Nordic Battlegroup will amount to some 80 to 100 personnel involving an Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Improvised Explosive Device Disposal (E.O.D./I.E.D.D.) team with its own security detail, together with staff posts at the Operational and Force headquarters. E.O.D. relates to normal type munitions whereas I.E.D.D. generally refers to devices devised by terrorist groups, such as car bombs etc. This level of operational commitment will only arise should the Battlegroup be called on to undertake an operation. The number of personnel involved operationally during the standby period, where the Battlegroup has not been mobilised to undertake an operation, will be of the order of 10 personnel. The remaining on-call personnel for the contingent will be based in Ireland during the Standby period. Any contribution to a Battlegroup will be met within the context of the overall ceiling of 850 personnel serving overseas at any one time set in the White Paper on Defence and will have no adverse impact on our existing peace support operations.
According to the EU Battlegroup concept, Battlegroups will be made up of some 1,500 personnel, deployable at 5 to 10 days notice and sustainable for 30 days and up to 120 days, either as a stand-alone force or as part of a larger operation enabling follow-on phases. The Nordic Battlegroup must be capable of responding within this designated timeframe and this is one of the issues being dealt with in the context of Battlegroup planning.
There are no plans for the involvement of the Naval Service or the Air Corps on overseas operations, including as part of the EU Battlegroups. However, individual members of the Naval Service or Air Corps may be deployed on overseas peace support operations, as they have been in the past. Any personnel deployed in this context receive the same training as their Army colleagues.
Most Battlegroup training will take place in the contributing member States — i.e. Irish troops will mainly be trained in Ireland. That said, some level of joint training with other Battlegroup elements will be required. It is planned that joint training of the Nordic Battlegroup elements, including field manoeuvres, will take place in Sweden in September/October 2007 for a period of approximately 3 to 4 weeks. This is the only joint field training envisaged.
Ireland does not participate in or contribute to the NATO Response Force as the Rapid Response Element within NATO is termed. Moreover, there are no plans or proposals, nor any requirement for field training with NATO troops or troops from other EU countries in the context of our participation in the Nordic Battlegroup or in any other context.