Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions to this very important debate.

Deputies have highlighted the importance of supporting our Defence Forces in capability and development. The primary function of training and education in the Defence Forces is to develop and maintain the capabilities necessary to enable personnel to fulfil the roles laid out by Government. Defence Forces specialist search and clearance teams are regularly deployed, at home and overseas, in different missions. Examples of recent such deployments at home include the Papal visit, the visit of British royalty in 2011 and the visit of the US Vice-President more recently. There have also been a number of searches for the bodies of missing persons and more conventional operations against paramilitary groups and criminal organisations.

There are two Defence Forces specialist search and clearance teams operating overseas with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL. They predominantly conduct roof searches and area clearances in advance of vehicle or foot patrols. The Government's White Paper on Defence, published in August 2015, states that Ireland will identify opportunities to participate in multi-national capability deployment projects within the framework of the European Defence Agency in support of the Defence Forces' operations capacity and capability. The European Defence Agency is focused on assisting member states on capability development in obtaining better value for existing spending levels, improving competitiveness and securing greater efficiency, particularly in the area of research technology and the procurement of defence capabilities. Ireland's participation in the project is a prime example of how defence forces can further develop their engineering specialist search and clearance capability to an advanced level, and provide a pathway to ensure the sustaining of those skills into the future.

I responded to the Sinn Féin Deputy in a debate earlier this evening on the idea of an EU army. I thought that Deputy Clare Daly would be delighted that I appear in the House every week to debate against her. We have different opinions, and I absolutely respect her opinions; that is what democracy is all about, and what this parliament is here for. However, I refute the comments of my colleague, Deputy Barrett, at last week's committee. Peacekeeping has totally changed. The threat we face today is totally different from the threat we faced in the 1970s and 1980s, when we first began peacekeeping. I assure Deputy Clare Daly that if we went out with the same equipment we used in the Congo in the 1960s we would not last very long.

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