Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ultimately, there is a substantial difference between the training members of the PDF receive and the training received by members of the RDF. In dealing with overseas duties, it is important that members of the Defence Forces are trained to the maximum possible extent and at present, it is certainly not envisaged that members of the RDF would go overseas. In the context of overseas duties, there are limited opportunities for members of the PDF to engage in overseas duties. I will not go through the litany of numbers but as the joint committee is aware, approximately 450 members of the PDF are serving in various different locations at present, with the largest contingent of course being in the Lebanon. In the context of the joint operations in Lebanon between ourselves and the Finns, the PDF contingent numbers will reduce next November and there will be an issue to identify other United Nations missions to which we may constructively contribute in order that members of the PDF can realise their objectives and ambitions of being able to use in a beneficial way the substantial training they receive. Consequently, it is not envisaged at present that members of the RDF would be engaged in overseas missions. There would be an issue as to the level of training required and even with participating in the training days that now are prescribed, there would be a concern as to their safety, as well as their capacity to engage in such missions. This does not mean that at some stage in the future, in different circumstances, this may not prove possible but I do not wish to hold out the possibility of something now that is not likely to be fulfilled or to give people unreal expectations based on the level of training available.