Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Dea, for his speech which provided us with the background to the mission to Chad. However, will the Minister please assure the House that there will be adequate air support, including 20 helicopters which are needed on this deadly mission?

The instability in the region has been evident again this week when heavy fighting broke out between rebels in the UFDR and Government forces in eastern Chad. Only two days after rebels had declared an end to a month-long ceasefire that had been brokered by Libya, rebels accused the Chadian Government of launching an attack on them. The fighting is in the area where EU forces are to be based, which is of major concern, which is only 25 miles from the border into the Darfur area of Sudan.

Obviously, Chad has faced constant instability and coups since it achieved independence from France in 1960. It has had a colourful history. One president after another has been overthrown. As previous speakers stated, it is the fifth largest state in Africa, at 1.284 million sq. km. It is also land-locked, which no doubt provides many challenges to our Army.

Chad is slightly more than three times the size of California and larger than any state in western Europe. Some 47% of the population is below the age of 15 and the life expectancy is 47 years, which is not high. Obviously, there is much poverty. There are health issues. Some of the social conditions are the worst in Africa. This poses many challenges.

Regarding the physical infrastructure, there are 55 airports, of which only seven have paved runways and 48 are unpaved. This also will prove challenging for our airborne personnel. In addition, only 267 km of the 33,000 km of roads are paved, which is seriously outrageous.

Obviously, there are many diseases associated with Chad, including malaria, hepatitis A and typhoid fever. Can the Minister assure the House that there will be adequate medical support?

See this speech in context