Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 5 together.

The United Nations department of peacekeeping operations has invited Ireland to contribute a small number of Defence Forces personnel to act as UN military observers with the recently established United Nations mission in the Sudan. The request to participate in the peacekeeping operation in the Sudan is being given the careful consideration all such requests from the UN receive. The mission is aimed to support the comprehensive peace agreement for southern Sudan which was signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Nairobi on 9 January 2005.

Ireland has been strongly supportive of the peace process in the Sudan generally and in the troubled region of Darfur in particular. We have provided financial support to the African Union mission, to which we have also seconded an Army officer. Ireland has also contributed considerable aid support to the Sudan. Last week the Government announced that it would provide €15 million for the recovery and reconstruction of the Sudan during the period 2005-07.

Assessment of the UN request must to take into account the numbers of Permanent Defence Force personnel available for overseas service. Currently, 750 Irish soldiers serve abroad from a total of 850 soldiers maintained under the UN stand-by arrangements system. The number of soldiers can fluctuate and stood at approximately 770 some months ago. Members of the Permanent Defence Force serve currently in eight overseas UN missions, including those in Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Western Sahara, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Lebanon and the Middle East. Personnel have also been assigned to the multinational forces authorized by the Security Council in Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina and Afghanistan.

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