Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Is the Minister aware of the suggestion made by Brigadier General Stefan Andersson, who commands the Nordic Battlegroup 2011, in which Irish troops will take part next year with Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia and will be on standby for rapid deployment in the event of a military crisis, that the EU should consider broadening the range of possible deployments for the battle groups to include natural disasters and humanitarian crises such as the Haiti earthquake? The Brigadier General went on to state that within the Nordic battle group is a medical company, transport, helicopters, tactical aircraft and well trained soldiers who can support those who need support in such situations. I have spoken to people in the Irish Defence Forces who say they are ready, willing, able and capable of being discharged to assist in humanitarian crises and disasters. To fight whom are we keeping this military force on standby when it could be being used to assist in dealing with disasters such as occurred in Pakistan?

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