Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Have there been any specific requests? Who did the requests come from? The Minister referred to costs. Has he a ballpark figure for the cost? How many troops are being talked about?

In the past, the Irish Rangers operated in the area. One of them was injured at one stage. This is media speculation and I do not know if that is the situation.

Somalia is a failed state, and there is a difficulty in that regard. There are warlords. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. There are all those socio-economic difficulties as well. Are we looking at this as a package or merely as a deterrent, or what is going on?

I and one of our colleagues here visited Tanzania just before Christmas with the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, AWEPA. We were looking at deep sea fishing and the fact that there is no deterrent. There are no fishing vessels there and there had been support from the EU. That whole coastline, as part of the Indian Ocean, is being stripped of tuna. Is the package seen as part of that overall position or is it specifically a military response to a difficult situation there?

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