Mr. Michael Howard:

As I think the Deputy will understand I am constrained in what I can say. I cannot speculate on the motives of other participants in peace support operations. I understand the Deputy's point of view but perhaps it is somewhat outside of the remit of the Department of Defence in Ireland. The EU training mission in Somalia is a training mission. When we were on the evaluation process in relation to the mission in Somalia, a lot of questions were asked about the people we were going to train, what might happen with the training and there were risks involved. The only way to have no risks is to have no mission. I am not saying this to be tendentious but to understand from our point of view if we wait until conditions are perfect we will never go into a mission.

The Deputy has rightly brought to attention the fact that some people may question the motives of some of the people involved. Whether that is right or wrong I cannot say but what I can say is that there is no question over the motives of countries such as Ireland. It is better that we participate. When we participate we get our flag over the mission headquarters and we get a say in what is done. Whatever other people may think, if Irish troops go on an EU training mission it will train Malian forces to the best way that they can be trained and we have no hidden agenda.

Questions have been raised about the conduct of the forces in the past. While it would not be appropriate for me to get into a debate about that, I acknowledge the fact that questions have been raised. The question for us then is what should we do about it. I would like to think that if a training team with an Irish component gets involved it is far more likely to improve the situation than disimprove it but I have to acknowledge the fact that it is not a perfect situation. What I am saying to the Deputy is that if we wait until it is perfect then they will not need the training.

There is a humanitarian law component in the training that our trainers will give. Irish soldiers, because it is part of their own training as they all have peace support and peacekeeping experience, will be very good mentors and role models for the troops involved in training. They are also having an input with the other trainers. Our relationship with our British colleagues in regard to this training mission is very good. Our personnel, when they went to Britain for the joint training before deployment, found that the UK side was waiting to be given guidance as to what to do, waiting to learn from our experience in Somalia. It is very much the right thing to do to participate, accepting that it will not bring about a perfect world, but I think we definitely have an impact.

In the other areas where we are trying to have an influence, perhaps trying to have a political influence over the policy of the European Union regarding the UN, the fact that we participate in missions gives us a voice that will be heard. People listen if one shows up at the airport when the mission starts. That is another reason we should be positively disposed to participate in missions, accepting the fact that the missions may not be perfect. Whenever one goes into a multinational peace support operation, some of the other countries participating may or may not be the people we would choose. Let us remember we might not be the people they would choose. As long as everybody goes on the mission and fulfils the mandate we are improving the situation. I believe the presence of countries such as Ireland and other like-minded neutral countries is positive in that context, which is why we are supporters of it.