Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On vaccines first, we have been insistent on ensuring that the Defence Forces before heading off on rotation whether it is to UNIFIL or the United National Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, are vaccinated beforehand. That was an understandable ask from representative bodies and we also wanted to do it, particularly given the role of the Defence Forces in the roll-out of vaccines, testing and so much more besides around managing this pandemic. It was not just a reward for all of that work. It was also a recognition that they are going to parts of the world where there is not the same level of control and protection from Covid.

The European Secretary General made pretty serious interventions last year to stop rotations and personal leave for people on peacekeeping missions and it was quite disruptive. I recognise the professionalism and flexibility shown by our personnel abroad in the context of an international pandemic. It was very challenging for many peacekeeping missions. We will vaccinate people before they leave, and we have also ensured that people get the appropriate allowances for the quarantine required before leaving. It is effectively the equivalent of beginning the mission early and getting the appropriate allowances and financial recognition for those sacrifices.

It is a bit more complex to get vaccines to our troops out there because we are reliant on the UN system and it is not as straightforward to give vaccine prioritisation. We will do everything we can. In any event, on these new rotations everybody there will be vaccinated before they depart, which will make that question less of an issue. The past 12 months has been somewhat challenging.

I have just been handed a note on the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020 and am looking for the relevant date. The Department is engaged with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Office of the Attorney General to finalise the legal text of the amendments I talked about. They will brought forward on Report Stage of the Bill. I am anxious to get on with that - yesterday, if we could. It is fairly straightforward legislation and the signal it gives to reservists is strong. It also gives a signal to the Commission, quite frankly, on the direction of travel we would like it to pursue. Far be it from me to lean on the Commission, which I certainly will not do, and there is a strong chairperson who will make his own decision on the direction of travel in terms of policy and recommendations. I would be surprised if the reserve was not a large part of those recommendations.

New overseas missions are unlikely this year but we are starting a process of reviewing peacekeeping missions more generally. We have been in UNIFIL for quite a long time and are likely to stay, and we have also been on the Golan Heights for some time. Those two missions have dominated Irish peacekeeping for a number of years. We have to anticipate where the UN and the Security Council will need expertise in the future. If we decide to change focus to build capacity for peacekeeping missions in some other part of the world, there has to be quite a long lead-in time from a training perspective for that. In the years ahead, we are likely to see an increased ask of Ireland from the UN, for Africa and across the Sahel in particular. Sometimes they are chapter 7 missions rather than chapter 6, and that requires a different kind of equipment and training to ensure we keep our people as safe as their training and equipment can keep them.

Although I sense some concern and criticism in regard to our experience in Mali, our involvement in both missions - the training mission and the UN mission embedded with a German contingent - is very helpful in scoping out new challenges for which the Defence Forces may need to prepare. That will not happen in the space of a few months; it will require two or three years of preparation time to change the emphasis in regard to equipment, procurement and training, and a different kind of mission will be required if we seek to pursue it. We are having that conversation within the Department of Defence and with the Defence Forces to consider some of those options. I do not foresee any change in missions this year, at least in any of the larger missions.

To respond to Deputy Stanton, we always have to remember people who have lost their lives abroad. This is serious stuff. The Defence Forces train as they do because they are in very dangerous parts of the world that can quickly ignite in terms of tension and conflict, as we have seen on the Golan Heights and, previously, in southern Lebanon with tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. There are multiple tensions within Syria and also between Israel and Syria, particularly with the forces linked to Iran. The potential for risk and danger always needs to be managed.

On payments from Ireland to the UN, a total of approximately €14.9 million was received by the UN by way of appropriations-in-aid in respect of UNIFIL and UNDOF. The amount outstanding at year end 2019 in respect of UNDOF and UNIFIL missions was €3.8 million. Ireland is not entitled to any reimbursement in respect of Defence Forces participation in EU-led and NATO-led missions as all troop contributors to such missions are responsible for their own costs. In 2020, the amount received from the UN by way of appropriations-in-aid in respect of UNIFIL and UNDOF was €13.2 million. We get back from the UN in the region of €13 million or €14 million every year in respect of those missions and will continue to pursue that.

Deputy Brady asked some important questions about Mali and I hope I can give some reassurance on the issue. As EUTM is a training mission, it does not require the same triple-lock systems. We are not sending Irish troops into harm's way but rather for a training mission, which is what it is. The Army Ranger Wing and its support staff, which is there with it and the German contingent, are on a different kind of mission but the training mission is just that. I visited the training facilities when I was last in the defence Ministry. It is about trying to build capacity, know-how, professionalism, discipline and all the other qualities that need to be built within the Defence Forces to enable them to operate as they need to in a very volatile and difficult environment, as has been seen in Mali over and over again.

Deputy Clarke asked about ensuring obedience. One just has to read the sentence in my submission. I referred to "logistics and military policy to ensure obedience to the civilian authority and the restructuring and training of units of the Malian armed forces." We are working to enshrine a sense that the Defence Forces need to be loyal to a civil authority. That, of course, was what the coup was about when senior military leaders took over the country, which was far from welcome or ideal. In any training mission, one of the most important points - Deputy Berry will understand this better than most - is that defence force personnel have to be loyal to civil authority because they are there at the behest of the government and the state, as opposed to their own interests in controlling a state. I am glad to say that in Ireland there is no issue with the relationship between the Government, the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence, although there are differences of opinion at times. In many countries throughout the world, the relationship between senior officers in the defence forces and government ministers, and respecting the civilian authority, constitutes a large part of training.

Respecting the civilian authority in a country is a big part of training. I seek to clarify that. "Obedience" might be the wrong word but the Defence Forces must serve the state and the democratic structures of the state as opposed to what we see in some part of the world, such as Myanmar with military generals running the country in a brutal way that is clearly unacceptable to the international community and the UN.

Brigadier General Maureen O'Brien is an inspiration within the Defence Forces. Despite the fact she is a women in that position and the highest ever ranking woman in the Defence Forces, not only is Brigadier General O'Brien hugely effective in her own right, she is so impressive that she may well be sought after within the UN system for potential future roles around advice and strategic thinking. In many ways, Brigadier General O'Brien is a trailblazer for what is possible and what we want, which is more women officers in senior positions in the Defence Forces. It is a shame she is coming to retirement age because I wish we could have her for much longer.

Jadotville was mentioned. We are doing what we said we would do. The Chief of Staff has a process under way to make recommendations on Jadotville, which I hope can bring this debate to a successful conclusion since it is the 60th anniversary of Jadotville in September this year. The Chief of Staff is focused on it. The process needs more time and he has asked me for more time. There has been an extensive consultation process and a huge archive of information and data to go through. We must give him the time and space to do it properly, so we get the right outcome and hopefully it will happen-----