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

The following motion was placed on the Order Paper for Dáil Éireann and was referred to this committee:

That, in accordance with the Programme for Government commitments, Dáil Éireann approves Ireland's participation in four Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) Projects:

i) Cyber Threats and Incident Response Information Sharing Platform,

ii) Deployable Military Disaster Relief Capability Package,

iii) Special Operations Forces Medical Training Centre, and

iv) Maritime (semi) Autonomous Systems for Mine Countermeasures.

In commending the motion to the committee, I will briefly outline the function of PESCO and the background to the projects in which Ireland proposes to participate. Ireland has been a participant in PESCO since its establishment in 2017. It is a process under which groups of member states can usefully come together to develop capabilities in support of Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP, operations. It represents a further development in EU co-operation in support of international peace and security under CSDP. Participation is voluntary and, to date, 25 EU member states, including Ireland, have joined PESCO. Following the recent decision to revoke its CSDP opt-out, Denmark is very likely to join PESCO projects very soon. That would mean Malta is the only country that is not involved.

The objective of PESCO is to enhance the EU’s defence capabilities for national and multinational missions and operations, to build on the EU’s capacity for international security. and to assist in the protection of EU citizens while maximising defence spending by participating member states. Participation in PESCO will enhance the Defence Forces’ military capabilities for participation in UN-mandated peace support operations, enhance interoperability and, working with our EU partners, ensure our troops are equipped with the latest and best equipment and training. Ireland currently has the lowest participation rate of the member states in PESCO. Ireland is a participant in only one of the 60 agreed PESCO projects - upgrade of maritime surveillance - and is currently an observer on a further nine projects. Four of these projects are the subject of this motion where I propose we move from observer status to participant status. What we are discussing today is the proposal for Ireland becoming full participants in four PESCO projects, on which we currently have observer status. In other words, we know what is going on but we now want to get involved properly in the projects.

This proposal follows a detailed analysis by the Defence Forces and my Department, reflecting on our experience as observers and assessing the added value of becoming full participants. In each case, the conclusion of the analysis and reflection is that full participation would deliver significant benefits to our Defence Forces to support them in their roles and, in particular, their contribution to international crisis management operations and peacekeeping. I will now provide a brief overview of the four projects.

The first is the cyber threats and incident response information sharing platform. The main objective of this project is to strengthen EU member states’ cyber defence capabilities and response to cyber incidents by delivering a cyber threats and incident response information sharing platform alongside an endpoint detection and response solution, in other words, getting better at spotting cyber threats and cyber attacks before they happen and dealing with them when they happen. Ireland, like other EU member states, has an increasing reliance on information and communications technology to support our military operations. Cyber attacks represent a real and increasing threat to our Defence Forces operations, both at home and overseas. The Defence Forces have assessed this project as being of particular value to them given that knowledge transfer relating to cyber threats is often the mitigation of actual attacks to networks. Participation in this project will enhance their cyber capabilities and give them a further means to deal with both known and unknown cyber threats. This is a Greek-led project and the other participating member states are Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The second is a deployable military disaster relief capability package.

The objective of this project is to develop a tool to support the EU’s civil protection mechanism response efforts to natural and man-made disasters and humanitarian crises. The tool will provide additional capabilities to the member states' response, resulting in enhanced capability and effectiveness of the overall response to emergencies.

The project has two pillars, which are training and operational. The training pillar will establish a training centre for the conduct and delivery of disaster relief training. The operational pillar will provide a deployable military disaster relief capability task force that could be activated at short notice following a request for assistance. I acknowledge that any deployment of the Defence Forces would require a separate Government decision in accordance with the appropriate legislative requirements. Italy will have the lead on this project and the other member state participants are Austria, Hungary, Greece and Spain.

The third project is a special operations forces, SOF, medical training centre. The objective of this project is to establish a medical training centre that will focus on medical support for special operations. SOF operations occur in high-threat environments without normal access to essential medical services. This training centre will focus on medical education and certified training for medical and non-medical support in SOF operations. This vital training will enhance our Defence Forces capabilities, skills and knowledge in the area of life support, in particular when soldiers are deployed overseas on peacekeeping missions. The project is expected to provide increased access to formalised, structured and appropriate medical courses that are the recognised interoperable standard across the EU special operations communities. Hungary will have the lead on this project and Poland is currently the other member state participant.

The fourth project is maritime, semi-autonomous, systems for mine countermeasures. The objective of this project is to deliver semi-autonomous underwater, surface and aerial technologies and capabilities for maritime mine countermeasures. This system will enhance maritime security by assisting to counter the threat from sea mines and other malign actors in the maritime domain. It will provide Ireland with a flexible, modular, innovative technology, which will enable the Defence Forces to develop an increased level of protection to key national infrastructure, including harbours, critical offshore infrastructure and sea lines of communications. Belgium is the lead on this project and the other participating member states are France, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania and the Netherlands. There is a lot of interest in that and I suspect there will be increased interest in the context of what is happening in the Black Sea at the moment.

The cost of Ireland’s move to full participation in these projects should not extend beyond travel costs to attend workshops, meetings or participation in or delivery of training. Any such costs can be met from within existing resources within my Department. In the event of a decision to procure any equipment or capability arising from, or developed as part of, these projects would be progressed through the Department’s normal procurement processes under the auspices of the joint high level planning and procurement group.

The enhancement and development of Defence Forces capabilities is essential when considering Ireland’s continued participation in a full range of UN-mandated missions overseas and to respond to the challenges from a defence and security perspective at home. Participation in these projects will further enhance the capability of our Defence Forces to undertake the roles assigned to them by the Government, both at home and overseas. Our participation in PESCO involves no commitment to participate in any CSDP operation or to the development of any form of common military force. Moreover, this is a modest proposal, which increases the number of projects in which we are full participants from one to five, out of a total of 60 agreed projects. Most countries are involved in many more than Ireland already is and will be after this decision.

The Defence Forces and my Department will continue to assess the value of the other projects with a view to possible observer status, during which time a further assessment can be made of the possible added value of progressing to full participation. Any proposal in that regard will only be done on the basis that there is demonstrable added value of full participation. I commend the motion to the committee. This has been a long explanation but hopefully it will assist the committee.