Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

In regard to Deputy Wall's first question, comments were made to an Irish newspaper on 18 June by a representative of the UNHCR. Within hours of the statement, the UNHCR officially contacted the Chief of Staff and me to apologise for those remarks and to thank the Army for the work it has done on the ground. Later that day, I met the regional representative of the UNCHR in Camp Ciara in Goz Beida, who personally apologised to me and thanked me for the Army's efforts in regard to the evacuation of UNHCR staff. During the previous day, I met the special representative of the UN Secretary General, who expressed similar sentiments. I regard the incident as closed and we will work together with UNHCR staff to fulfil our mandate to the best of our abilities.

I will respond in detail to Deputy Wall's question on air assets later in the context of parliamentary questions which specifically raise the matter.

I want to clarify the issue of the deadline. I read a newspaper report which claimed the Government was getting worried because I emphasised that the deadline is 15 March 2009. I was asked a straight question regarding the length of time decided on by the Cabinet for the deployment of troops to Chad. We decided to deploy them for 12 months, from 15 March 2008 to 15 March 2009. I do not know how anybody could have interpreted that to mean that I was worried. A mid-term review will be conducted next month and it is intended that a traditional UN blue helmet mission will be ready to replace the current EUFOR mission in Chad before 15 March 2009, so there will be no hiatus. If that is successful, I do not doubt that we will be approached to contribute to the UN mission but if the ambitious deadline is not met, the present operation will without doubt be continued in some shape or form and, again, we will be asked to contribute. That decision will be taken by the Government. I will study the military operation, consult with the Army and travel to Chad to review the situation on the ground before bringing my recommendations to the Government. Giving a straight answer to a straight question should not imply that I am in any way worried or that I mean something other than the plain words uttered in the English language.

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