Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The mission has changed significantly since locating in Mogadishu, having initially been in Uganda. We are engaged in 14 overseas missions, including EUTM Somalia, and given Ireland's commitment to this mission to date in order to support the smooth handover between mission commanders, we granted approval to retain the Defence Forces personnel in their current appointments until the end of their tour of duty on 13 April 2014. The decision was made to end our engagement in the mission. Very few members of our Defence Forces participate it. As the term of our engagement in missions draws to a close, a review is always conducted to ascertain whether we should deploy some additional personnel or give consideration to other missions. The decision was made that it was appropriate to withdraw the small number of personnel in this location, having made a substantial contribution to it with two outstanding members of our Defence Forces as force commanders. The Deputy can assume we continue to focus on the varied missions we are engaged in and there is no question of our disengaging in any dramatic way from our overall UN commitments.

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