Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The European Union operation in Chad and the Central African Republic, EUFOR Tchad/RCA, was established for a period of one year from March 2008. It is playing a key role in ensuring the security of refugees and displaced persons living in camps along the eastern border of Chad, and in facilitating the provision of humanitarian relief, as well as in protecting the UN policing mission in the area. I pay tribute to the success of EUFOR and to the professionalism of the members of the Irish Defence Forces participating in the mission. In my recent meeting at the United Nations with Lynn Pascoe, the Under Secretary General for Political Affairs, he spoke very warmly of the positive contribution they are making.

Despite the success of EUFOR, it is clear that an international presence will continue to be required in the region for some time. In this context, I welcome the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1834 which expresses the intention of authorising a UN military mission to follow on from EUFOR after 15 March 2009, when its current mandate expires.

It is expected the UN will, in due course, issue a formal request to Ireland to provide a contingent for this operation, and I would view such a request favourably in principle. However, a decision to participate will need to await the outcome of ongoing discussions on the size, composition and mandate of the follow-on operation. Account will also be taken of the intentions of other current EUFOR participants and the support they would provide. It is worth noting in this regard that logistical support from non-EU partners, including Ukraine and Russia which are both providing helicopters, has been vital for EUFOR. This underlines the issues the EU has regarding the military capabilities available to it for important missions of this kind.

Irish participation in a UN follow-on operation will, of course, be subject to the triple lock of UN mandate and Government and Dáil approval. My colleague, the Minister for Defence, has indicated he would be positively disposed to participation by the Defence Forces in the follow-on mission subject to the above issues being addressed.

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