Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I congratulate Major General Nash on his appointment. It is a great personal honour for him and for the Defence Forces that a member of the Irish military is chosen to lead such a mission. It is also a tribute to the training and the involvement of the Defence Forces in UN missions over a number of years. Undoubtedly, Major General Nash and the personnel who accompany him will discharge their duties with the usual distinction and will do the country proud.

An occasion such as this should not pass without comment on the reasons for the deployment, which have been evident for a long time. There have been appalling atrocities in that part of Africa over the past ten years or so, each one bad enough to drive the previous one into oblivion. The problem continues. International commentators say such events should not happen. The great thing about modern communications is that we have the opportunity to watch these events almost at first hand on the television. The presentation of the deprivation, starvation, hardship and the ferocity of the wars that are waged on many fronts is graphic. It is also possible to recognise the intricacies of such situations. It is not simple to resolve the multifaceted problems. We have seen the evidence of that over many years.

Nevertheless, there is still a responsibility on us to be prepared at European and UN level to tackle such situations and to offer assistance and peacekeeping of a persuasive nature. That is what is required in that region. It is not as simple an operation as was given to other task forces in the past. This will be a particularly sensitive and difficult operation but our Defence Forces recognise that. They have been in such situations previously.

The recent experience of the various army personnel from Africa who were deployed to that area and who have suffered casualties underlines the necessity of ensuring that troops are deployed in sufficient numbers to be able to fend for themselves and to be self-sufficient on the ground. They must be able to bring whatever equipment is necessary. That means personal body armour, military hardware, gas masks and other equipment of the highest quality. It must be modern and available to everybody and it must work. The conditions under which the troops operate can be difficult and trying, and there are no second chances. If something goes wrong, it reflects on all of us. However, that will not happen. It should not happen because we have experience in these matters now.

The UN has awoken to the fact that these problems exist and are ongoing and that action must be taken. However, the slow speed with which the UN responds is most worrying. Every hour of every day some atrocity takes place. People are starved, shot, bombed or massacred. Every moment of delaying the deployments that are required in these sensitive areas, which have gained such public attention over recent years, is time wasted. The UN needs to think more seriously of using missions such as this. The mission is helpful and welcome but it would have been better if it had happened some time ago.

The same applies to our colleagues in the European Union. It is no good protesting about the atrocities if nothing is done about them. The EU is a powerful entity but it does not always exert itself in a positive way. It has proposals for rapid response forces, battle groups and so forth, but these things need to happen. Talking about them forever does nothing. They must be put in place soon.

I have said many times previously that we should consider increasing the strength of our Defence Forces at all levels, having particular regard to current and future deployments. It is possible that more calls will be made on our Defence Forces to take up postings abroad. It comes naturally from our previous experiences and given that the number of locations requiring peacekeeping forces is likely to increase. The Government is aware of this and we would be negligent if we did not respond adequately. However, if we respond adequately our Defence Forces will be stretched and this should not be the case.

In any democracy where defence forces support the police the common denominator should always apply that the numbers must be kept at a certain strength commensurate with the population. Our population has been increasing for some time. Will the Minister respond to this point? From the replies to the many parliamentary questions I tabled on this matter I believe these thoughts run through the minds of Department officials and the Minister.

Wherever our troops are deployed, whether on UN missions or otherwise, they should be familiar with their colleagues and it is of critical importance that they undergo adequate training whether at UN or EU level. Sufficient integration of training should occur and over such time as to ensure our troops are fully au fait with their colleagues and that their colleagues are fully au fait with their ability to work in the situation. I do not doubt this can, will and does happen. I did not get to Tallaght, Limerick or other places to which I wanted to travel during my speech, but I have no doubt I will in the future.

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