Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Ireland is currently contributing 563 Defence Forces personnel to 11 different missions throughout the world. Of this, 126 are commissioned officers, 220 are non-commissioned officers and 217 are drawn from other ranks. Full details of all personnel currently serving overseas are listed in the tabular statement which will be circulated to Deputies. The main overseas missions in which Defence Forces personnel are currently deployed are the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, with 446 personnel, the EU-led operation ALTHEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 44 personnel, and the NATO-led international security presence, KFOR, in Kosovo with 12 personnel. Other personnel are serving as monitors and observers with the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. Staff are also deployed at the organisational headquarters of the EU, OSCE and NATO.

Also, Ireland is currently participating in the Nordic battle group, NBG, which has been on stand-by since 1 January 2011 and which will stand down on Thursday next, 30 June 2011. The other countries contributing to the Nordic battle group are Sweden, acting as framework nation, Finland, Norway and Estonia. Our contribution is a Recce/ISTAR company together with staff posts at both the operational and force headquarters amounting to approximately 150 personnel. Recce is an abbreviation of reconnaissance; ISTAR is an acronym for intelligence, surveillance, target, acquisition and reconnaissance.

As the House will be aware, personnel of the 104th infantry battalion completed their deployment to UNIFIL in the past number of days. The Irish battalion is based in sector west of UNIFIL's area of operations, centred on the major towns of Tibnin and Bint Jubyal and the Blue Line, which separates Lebanon and Israel. Personnel of the 104 battalion are being tasked primarily with patrolling, reconnaissance and occupying static posts, while operating in close co-ordination and co-operation with the Lebanese armed forces. The Defence Forces will continue to acquit themselves well and will make a vital and important contribution to the success of the mission, as they have done on so many occasions in the past.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The drawdown of the Defence Forces contingent serving with Operation ALTHEA was scheduled to occur in July 2010. This drawdown was based on an expectation that the transition of the EUFOR mission to a training and support mission would have started by that time and having regard to the budgetary situation. However, the mission is still undergoing transition to a smaller training and support mission and the process is not now expected to be completed until the end of 2011. The Defence Forces contribution will be reduced from the current level of 44 personnel to seven personnel at the end of the current rotation of the Irish contingent next month.

The drawdown of Irish personnel from KFOR in Kosovo from around 230 personnel to a residual component of 12 personnel took place between April and October 2010. Today, the Government approved continued Defence Forces participation by up to 12 personnel in KFOR and seven personnel in the UN authorised International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, ISAF, for a further period, beyond June and July 2011 respectively. Also at its meeting today, the Government approved continued participation in the EU Common Security and Defence Policy military mission to contribute to the training of Somali security forces, for a further period of one year beyond August 2011, subject to an appropriate decision of the Council of the European Union authorising the extension of the mission.

Members of the Permanent Defence Force Serving Overseas as of 27 June 2011

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