Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

European defence experts will gather in Brussels on 21 March for the European Defence Agency annual conference. Will the Minister for Defence, Deputy Shatter, be in attendance at that event? Can the Minister of State tell us the role Ireland plays in research and innovation in the security sector? Is it expanding and is this an area the Government is looking to grow as a research area?

A recent European Defence Agency event on resilient threat management in 2013, a partnership between the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Defence Agency, took stock of the efforts dedicated to countering improvised explosive devices, while pointing in the direction of the future. According to the reply to a recent parliamentary question to the Minister for Defence, there has been a significant increase in the number of callouts of the members of the Defence Forces to tackle explosive devices found around the country. In 2010, there were 53 callouts for viable improvise explosive devices, 70 in 2011, 96 in 2012 and 21 to date in 2013. It appears these monstrous devices are growing in incidence and our Defence Forces are being called upon to deal them. Does the Minister of State have an idea why there is an increase in this type of activity and what plans the Department has to address it?

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