Patricia Ryan
Ceist:449. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Defence if he will report on the activities of Ireland under PESCO since its implementation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26305/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 18 May 2021
Ceisteanna (449)
Freagraí scríofa
Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is a process under which groups of Member States can come together to develop capabilities in support of Common CSDP Operations. On a voluntary basis, 25 EU Member States have joined PESCO and subscribed to more binding commitments to invest, plan, develop and operate defence capabilities together within this EU framework.
Ireland's participation in PESCO was agreed by Government and approved by Dáil Éireann prior to the Council Decision establishing PESCO on 11 December 2017.
The objective of PESCO is to generate coherent defence capabilities which will be available to Member States for national and multinational peacekeeping and crisis management missions and operations under UN, EU or NATO leadership. This will enhance the EU’s capacity as an international security actor, to contribute to the protection of EU citizens, support international peace and security and maximise the effectiveness of defence spending by participating member States.
As part of PESCO participation, Member States have agreed to fulfil commitments which include; regularly increasing defence budgets in real terms, increased cooperation on cyber defence, cooperating on capability development and participating in at least one project under PESCO. Member States have also agreed to produce a National Implementation Plan, updated annually, to assist in the assessment of Member States' fulfilment of the PESCO commitments both collectively and on an individual basis. The most recent National Implementation Plan submission, Ireland’s third, was made in March of this year.
The commitments made under PESCO, and which are assessed in the National Implementation Plan, support the overall development of Defence Forces capabilities in support of peacekeeping and crisis management operations through cooperation and participation in joint projects, with like-minded partners.
Ireland engaged fully with the PESCO Strategic Review (PSR) process which took place last year, bringing to a close the first initial phase of PESCO (2018-2020). A Strategic Review of Permanent Structured Cooperation was required as per the 2017 Council Decision which established PESCO. Its purpose was to assess what had been achieved so far and to consider updating and enhancing the more binding commitments and related more precise objectives in order to reflect the Union’s evolving security environment. Following extensive discussions, Council Conclusions on the Strategic Review were finalised in November of 2020.
Forty seven PESCO projects have been launched to-date. These include projects in the areas of capability development and in the operational domain. Each project is managed by the participating member States with oversight from the Council.
Ireland is a participant in one PESCO project (Greek led ‘Upgrade of Maritime Surveillance’) and also has observer status on the following nine PESCO projects (1) Deployable Military Disaster Relief Capability Package; (2) Maritime (semi) Autonomous Systems for Mine Countermeasures; (3)Cyber Threats and Incident Response Information Sharing Platform; (4) European Secure Software Defined Radio; (5) Military Mobility; (6) Energy Operational Function; (7) EU Radio Navigation Solution; (8) Counter Unmanned Aerial System; (9) Special Operations Forces Medical Training Centre.
The activities around these projects include attendance and reporting of meetings and workshops.
Ireland also participated in the German led project EU Training Mission Competence Centre, this project closed in November 2019 with the agreement of all members as it duplicated existing structures in the EU.
My Department and the Defence Forces are currently reviewing our involvement in PESCO projects and exploring the possibility of participating in projects which bring value from a Defence Forces capability development perspective. Work on the 4th tranche of PESCO projects is also commencing through the PESCO Secretariat in the European Defence Agency. This involves Member States proposing a set of new PESCO projects. Any new projects will be subject to approval of the Council later this year. These new project proposals will be analysed in relation to Defence Forces current and future capability development.
As a matter of policy under the current Programme for Government, participation in further PESCO projects by Ireland will be subject to Government and Dáil approval.