Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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To ask the Minister for Defence following the EUFOR Chad/CAR deployment in which Irish army troops were the second largest contingent after France, if he will rule out the involvement of Irish troops in any proposed EU intervention in Mali. [6413/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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On 17 January 2013, the Council of the European Union established the European Union training mission, EUTM Mali, which will provide military training and advice to the Malian armed forces to improve their military capacity and their effectiveness in guaranteeing the country's territorial integrity. Training will also be provided in international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians and human rights. It is envisaged that the training component of the mission will be made up of approximately 250 personnel and this will be further supplemented by additional troops who will be deployed to provide force protection.

Unlike the EU-led mission to the Republic of Chad and the Central African Republic, EUFOR Tchad/RCA, EUTM Mali, which is being launched in support of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2071 and 2085 of 2012, will not have any combat functions and is totally separate and distinct from any combat support being provided to the Malian armed forces by France and other countries. It will be conducted at the invitation of the Malian Government and in close co-ordination with the UN, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, and other key partners.

The Council has asked the mission commander, General François Lecointre, to carry out preparations for the early launch of the mission. To this end, force generation for the mission is currently ongoing at EU level. All member states have been invited by the mission commander to provide contributions to the mission.

Ireland is currently considering the provision of a small number of Defence Forces personnel to the mission. Any participation by Ireland in this mission would most likely be limited to a small contribution of trainers and would be subject to Government approval.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Daly, I will let you know when there are two minutes remaining for the entire question and supplementary.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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I hope you are not using up some of those minutes.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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No; we are ahead of the posse. Keep going.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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It would be a serious mistake to send troops in any form to Mali. The mission to Chad, where Irish troops were the second biggest contingent, was really to further French interests. At that time, we were told its purpose was to protect internally displaced people and refugees from Darfur. In reality, the EU troops were used to free up the forces of the dictator and allow him to crush the rebels while the rest of the EU was doing some other work.

The Tuareg people have been in a long struggle for autonomy in northern Mali. The idea that the troops are going in to quell terrorism is a myth. Research indicates no record of al-Qaeda activity in the area until it was orchestrated by the Algerian intelligence services, backed up by the United States and with the full knowledge of the EU, which encouraged fundamentalist atrocities so that the situation could be used to enable an intervention and open up and exploit the area's mineral wealth and oil. Is that not the real agenda? Would we not be making a serious mistake to further France's interests in that regard? We are talking about gold, uranium, diamonds and oil, and not humanitarian issues.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has an extraordinary view of the world. Anyone who watched what happened in Mali, particularly northern Mali, where barbaric atrocities were carried out on the local people, people were herded into stadiums with their arms chopped off and women were made to cover their heads, threatened and not allowed to engage in normal life, would recognise that there was a major problem in Mali. It is extraordinary that the Deputy should suggest that al-Qaeda was operating in Mali because it was encouraged by the United States to do so and that the European Union encouraged atrocities. The Deputy has a strange, conspiratorial view of what is happening in the world.

The reality is that there were substantial difficulties in Mali. The Malian armed forces lacked the capacity to deal with those difficulties and the Malian Government sought assistance. The United Nations, with which the Deputy appears to disagree, passed motions to provide for trainers to train the Malian forces, not only in dealing effectively with military matters but, by way of the comprehensive approach that is adopted, to ensure that training is provided in international humanitarian law and with regard to ensuring the protection of civilians and human rights. Ireland has an important role in this. We can contribute in a small way with a small number of troops, just as we have done with EUTM Somalia, where we helped to bring about a degree of protection to people in Somalia and Mogadishu by ensuring that Government has trained and appropriate forces available to it. The Government is giving active consideration to deploying a small number of troops on this training mission.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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I am glad my view of the world is not the same as the Minister's. My opinion is shared by people such as Jeremy Keenan, who is an acknowledged expert on the Saharan peoples and has written many articles on Algerian state terrorism and atrocities in northern Mali. He has shown how Washington helped to foster the Islamist uprising in Mali, and so on. We know atrocities have been carried out against civilians but the idea that the French are in Mali to protect civilians and that their real goal is not to exploit mineral resources is laughable, and we should not have anything to do with it.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I presume the Deputy regarded the chopping off of people's arms as an appropriate thing to continue happening, which is what would have happened without the French intervention.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister should tell that to the Saudi Arabian regime to which Europe sells weapons.