Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

There is a huge amount of information in the reply and it is hard to keep up with it. I believe that Irish people feel that we should have a neutral foreign policy and whatever about our Army being deployed on peacekeeping missions, the idea of participating in battle groups and the subsequent cost to the State of those ventures is something in which people are interested. Can the Minister of State explain if the reason the taxpayer has to pay out €5 million in terms of the costs of participation in missions is because they are not United Nations missions? Are they areas that come under EU battle groups which would be more covered under those costs? Are all UN operations refunded? Is there a change in that position in terms of the troops the Minister of State voted earlier today to send as observers to Syria? Is that a departure in terms of finances?

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