Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What is happening with the review process, which is a civil-military process where we are looking at our presence overseas, is we are anticipating that later this decade we would like to be able to have the capacity to make contributions, primarily to UN missions, that are potentially more complex, particularly ones on the continent of Africa that may involve chapter 7 missions. In order to do that, there is of course a lead-in time with equipment, training and so on. It is no secret that because our numbers are not where they should be in the Defence Forces we must, in order to do that, prioritise where we focus those resources and look at our existing peacekeeping footprint around the world. That process is under way. One of the areas under consideration at the moment is Mali. We have two missions there. One is a training mission to which we have just given a renewed mandate for another 12 months. The other is a UN peacekeeping mission. Both are becoming more complicated because France has decided to pull out of Mali. Perhaps I will get a chance to come back on that.

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