Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

As Kofi Annan has stated, times have changed and the UN must be in a position to respond quickly to avoid the genocide and slaughter which was witnessed in the Congo last year. The recommendation is that to do that, this particular aspect of the rapid response element is necessary. It would be invariably organised regionally, whether by the EU or NATO. In principle, I agree it is a very good idea. I agreed with Kofi Annan when he suggested it. However, the question of Ireland's participation in it will have to be decided by the Cabinet in light of the changes that will be required to Irish law to make that participation possible. That will be more obvious in a couple of months' time when the sub-group is ready to report and makes available the many outstanding technical details in regard to how battle groups will operate in respect of joint training and so on. However, these are not available at present.

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