Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Defence if he will provide a progress report on Ireland’s participation in the Austro-German Battlegroup; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54759/12]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Defence the cost of training troops to participate in the Austro-German Battlegroup; if money was allocated to cover the potential deployment of these troops and the number of days this money covered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54757/12]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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To ask the Minister for Defence the cost of Ireland's participation in the German led EU battlegroup. [54756/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 29 and 33 together.

Ireland is participating in the Austro-German-led battle group which will be on standby until 31 December. In 2010 the then Government approved Ireland's participation in this battle group. The other members of the Austro-German battle group are Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A battle group is a standard technical military term and consists of about 1,500 personnel. The purpose of a battle group is is to undertake operations commonly referred to as the Petersberg Tasks which are set out in the Amsterdam treaty. The tasks include rescue tasks, peacemaking, peacekeeping and humanitarian tasks. Ireland participates in order to enhance its military capability and inter-operability with other member states' defence forces.

Our contribution is a reconnaissance company. Should the battle group be deployed, Ireland's contribution would amount to approximately 175 personnel. During the stand-by period, one officer has been deployed to the battle group headquarters in Ulm, Germany for training and planning activities. The costs of equipment and additional training for participation in the battle group are marginal. The capabilities and equipment in respect of Ireland's contributions to the battle groups already reside within the Defence Forces. Training of Irish troops for the Austro-German battle group took place in Ireland and no joint field exercises or manoeuvre training took place. There were no specific additional costs arising in association with the preparation and stand-by period.

Should the battle group be deployed, the current estimated additional maximum cost for 120 day deployment is €10.7 million, excluding allowances and ammunition, which are generally already provided for in the Defence Vote. There are no proposals under consideration at this time for the deployment of the Austro-German battle group. On the basis that it will cease to function on 31 December, it is not anticipated that there will be.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I am conscious that participation in the Nordic battle group and, consequently, the Austro-German battle group was approved by the previous Government. I am interested in knowing about the deliberations the Minister has had with the Chief of Staff and his partners in the Government on future participation. Has he, in consultation with interested parties, had the opportunity to evaluate the success, or otherwise, of participation in the two battle groups? Does he have proposals to bring to the House in the near future on Ireland's continued participation?

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am happy to tell the Deputy that preliminary discussions have been held on Ireland's possible participation in 2015 in the Nordic battle group, to which he referred. Ireland participated in the Nordic battle group in 2008 and 2011. Other members of the Nordic battle group were Sweden which was acting as the framework nation, Finland, Norway, Estonia and Croatia. Ireland is due to participate again in the Austro-German battle group in 2016. This is also under positive consideration.

We view our participation as being beneficial to the Defence Forces with regard to training and interoperability issues but also as signifying in a European Union context that we are willing to come together with other member states to deal with peacekeeping, peace enforcement and rescue missions. It is important we are seen to make a contribution in this area and that is the Government's perspective on this.

The Deputy might be interested to know that at European level a dialogue has commenced to examine the utility of the battle group concept. Rather than an entire battle group being deployed on a peacekeeping mission on some occasion under a United Nations mandate should some issue arise, Europe could beneficially participate by deploying a portion of a battle group with particular skills. That might be worth considering for the future, as opposed to battle groups being in place, which fortuitously to date have not been called upon, and they having a certain level of training but not being utilised in a manner that could be beneficial in peacekeeping or peace enforcement missions.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Will that be a priority issue for the Minister as he chairs the Council of Ministers for Defence in the next six month period? In that regard, are there any other gems of wisdom he might give us in terms of his priorities in his role during the next six months?

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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We have a number of priorities dealing with the European Council meetings that will take place. As the Deputy may already know, an informal Council meeting will take place in Dublin, based at Dublin Castle, on 12 and 13 February at which a variety of issues will be under discussion. One of the issues of importance as we go through our Presidency is preparation for the European Council meeting of Heads of State in December 2013 when they address issues of European security and defence. An issue of particular relevance and importance is the manner in which UN missions are currently deployed and mandated. The role of the European Union as a regional entity in providing what I would describe as a European Union based deployed mission under a UN mandate is something that is very important.

As the Deputy will know, 21 member states of the Union are members of NATO and the other members states are not members of it. Some of the deployments have had a NATO dimension as opposed to a European Union dimension. We specifically invited, as I thought it would be of importance and interest, someone at high level in the UN to address the informal meeting on the greater connectivity between the UN and the EU as an entity in peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions. That is an area with which we will be dealing at the informal Defence Council meeting. There is a broad range of other issues to which some level of priority needs to be given such as pooling and sharing between the different member states where we may have joint missions with member states under a UN mandate.

If the Deputy puts down a question, I would be happy to go through all the various issues we anticipate will come up. The very important issue is the operations in which we are engaged in conjunction with EU colleagues. For example, EUTM Somalia, which is headed up by a member of our Defence Forces, provides training for new members of the Somalian defence forces. That training is currently taking place in Uganda but it is envisaged the mission will go to Mogadishu shortly. That is one of a number of issues that will be discussed during the course of our Presidency.