Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy mentioned lorries full of equipment but if we did not send that out and if something happened to a member of the Defence Forces, I would be in the Dáil being asked why members of the Defence Forces were not given right and proper equipment on overseas peacekeeping duties.

The complexities of peacekeeping have changed totally over the years. Those personnel are still very much involved with communities and they reach out to the different organisations involved in education, health and water filtration in communities, for example. They do so to a very high standard. I have visited some of the aid projects that involve members of the Defence Forces and they play soccer with local communities, go to markets and drink tea with locals. People have said that members of the Defence Forces are in the premier division when it comes to peacekeeping. On the other side of that, military management advises me on the safety of any mission overseas when I ask them about the risk involved. In all of this there is an obligation on the Government and military management to ensure members of the Defence Forces are properly equipped and trained in the best manner and in the same way as the people they work alongside. I make no excuses whatever for equipping and training them in that way. The military management have told me that participating in the battle groups and working alongside other member states is a very good way of getting the best of training and expertise.

Working towards interoperability is important. That is the advice I get from military management. They are the experts in the field and they know what the best way forward is.

I have stated on numerous occasions that I encourage committee members to visit. It is important. I know they have been in talks over the past number of days. UNIFIL is something to visit. If one sees the troops and talks to them, one will see the importance of the work they do and the interoperability involved in working with like-minded states and equipment. It is very important. One can go to pre-deployment exercises in the Glen of Imaal to see the level of training involved.

I will return to Deputy O'Sullivan's point. There is no use in us sending members of the Defence Forces to the Glen of Imaal or Kilworth in Cork to run through mountains and then send them to UNIFIL, the Golan Heights or another mission if they do not have the experience of working with other like-minded states. The more I visit overseas, the more I see the importance of Ireland participating in whatever mission is suitable to us for training exercise purposes.