Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

All the countries involved have diplomatic relations with Ireland and they are all members of the UN. The participation of the members of the military forces of other nations has the marked advantage of building useful international links as regards the potential interoperability and familiarity between our Defence Forces and the military of other states with which they may well undertake international peacekeeping duties in future. It involves technical and academic military training arranged on an ad hoc basis and it has no implications for our policy of military neutrality.

Taking a different perspective, this gives us an opportunity to get know to military people in other countries. I met, for example, a member of the Zambian army who had been trained in the Curragh during my tenure in the Department of Foreign Affairs. He very much appreciated the quality of training he received. That training stayed with him and he brought it back to his own country to help build capacity there. It is a normal procedure. We interact with military personnel from other countries with whom we could undertake joint international peacekeeping operations. It is nothing more complicated than that.

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