Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

The Government is strongly committed to providing whatever support it can within available resources and capabilities, including the provision of Defence Forces personnel, to the humanitarian relief operation in south-east Asia following the recent tsunami disaster. As soon as the scale of the disaster became clear, the Department of Foreign Affairs deployed a high level technical assessment team, which included a member of the Defence Forces, to examine the situation on the ground and identify what assistance Ireland should offer to the affected region. Arising from its initial assessment, the team advised the Department of Foreign Affairs of an immediate requirement for two logistics planning experts and two engineers to be attached to the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre.

Following consultation with my colleagues, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Finance, I agreed to the secondment of four officers of the Permanent Defence Force on a volunteer basis to the UNJLC in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The role of the logistics officers will be to evaluate, on behalf of the UNJLC, the current and future transport requirements in the affected areas for the delivery of humanitarian aid and to recommend solutions to overcome any identified shortfalls. The engineers will examine the road infrastructure in the affected areas, specify the rehabilitation and repair requirements and establish repair priorities to restore a functioning transport network in the area. These officers will have completed their work in six to eight weeks.

It is not possible at this stage to state if further troops will be deployed to the region. The assessment team has advised that a request for a further small number of logistics planners may be pending. However, at this time, I have received no further formal requests for Defence Forces assistance. This is an evolving situation and, as such, I am not in a position to say what requests may arise over the coming weeks and months.

The Government is positively disposed towards supporting the relief effort in the affected areas to the greatest possible extent. In the event that the Defence Forces have the capacity and resources to offer further required assistance in the region in specified roles, they will be examined on a case-by-case basis having regard to the requirements and the situation on the ground.

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