Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I apologise for the absence of the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, who is in RTE at the moment on budget matters. The background to the rapid response element concept, sometimes referred to as battle groups, is that at the European Council in Helsinki in 1999, member states set themselves a headline goal that by 2003, co-operating together and voluntarily, they will be able to deploy rapidly and then sustain forces capable of the full range of Petersberg Tasks as set out in the Amsterdam treaty. In short, these are humanitarian, rescue, peacekeeping and crisis management operations, including peacemaking. This included, inter alia, a capability to provide rapid response elements available and deployable at very high readiness. The ambition of the EU to be able to respond rapidly to emerging crises has and continues to be a key objective of the development of the European security and defence policy, ESDP.

Ireland supports the development of the EU's rapid response capability in support of UN authorised missions and is positively disposed towards participation in the rapid response elements in this regard. However, it is important that the full implications of our participation are assessed and, to this end, the Minister for Defence established an interdepartmental group which includes representatives of his Department, the Defence Forces, the Taoiseach's Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General's office to consider the policy, legislative and operational issues arising from participation.

The Minister received the report from the interdepartmental group last week and is reviewing it. The report deals comprehensively with a range of issues related to rapid response elements-battle groups and issues arising in the context of overseas service by the Defence Forces generally. Once the Minister has had an opportunity to consider the matter he plans to consult his colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, with a view to bringing proposals to Government as to how we then proceed. In advance of the Government having had the opportunity to consider the issue, it would be inappropriate to comment on the relevant actions which may be taken pursuant to the group's report.

See this speech in context