Ms Niamh Ní Bhriain:

There is a carve-out within the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006 that permits us to participate in training exercises. For example, the reason we can go on the training exercises with the EU battle group in Hungary that I mentioned, and other training exercises, is because of that carve-out. In the case of Mali, I am not sure of the specifics of how the lawyers within the Defence Forces looked at it but it is a training exercise and there is a permission within the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006 to participate in training exercises.