Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

The Defence Forces participate in two main types of overseas missions, namely, traditional UN-led "Blue Hat" missions and UN-authorised missions, where the mission is established under the authority of the UN Security Council or the General Assembly of the UN. These two types of missions are represented on the Defence Forces website as UN and non-UN missions respectively. In both instances, the provisions relating to the dispatch of a contingent of the Defence Forces for overseas service are laid down in the Defence Acts, which require that the mission must be authorised by the UN, approved by Government and, where the contingent is armed and exceeds 12 members, approved by way of a resolution of the House.

With regard to authorised missions listed in the Defence Forces website to which a contingent of the permanent Defence Force was-is deployed, for example, Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, OSCE, verification mission in Kosovo, SFOR, KFOR, INTERFET, ISAF, UNMIL and EUFOR, Government and Dáil approval, as appropriate, were obtained and the mission was authorised by the UN. Apart from these larger missions, at any given time, small numbers of personnel are deployed overseas in an administrative, staff, observer or advisory capacity on other missions, none of which are armed operations. These include missions under the auspices of the OSCE, the European Union Monitor Mission, EUMM, to the former Yugoslavia and other military appointments in Europe. Such assignments, which are voluntary, do not require statutory authorisation.

Defence Forces personnel have also been deployed on humanitarian missions in support of NGOs or with other international organisations. The recent deployment of a small number of personnel to the UN joint logistics co-ordination centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is an example of such a mission. Defence Forces regulations provide that volunteer members of the Permanent Defence Force can be seconded to such undertakings by the Minister for Defence, with their agreement and with the consent of the Minister for Finance, for periods of up to one year.

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