Results 1-5 of 5 for operation sophia segment:8061112
- Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)
Simon Coveney: ...Senator Higgins on similar issues to this following the Second Stage debate. At the outset it is important to clarify that the purpose of section 2 is to provide for the delegation of a level of operational control to the force commander of international UN forces. The legislation simply provides for the current de facto position. The Senator's amendment would neuter the effect of...
- Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)
Alice-Mary Higgins: ...do not want it simply confined to the United Nations but it is another thing to have it completely wide open in having any force in that space. We have a concern there. The Minister mentioned the Operation Sophia example and the bilateral operation. That is a very interesting example because it is an example whereby Ireland and the Naval Service were operating with a humanitarian...
- Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)
Alice-Mary Higgins: ...but, rather, where there are other forces or engagements. With respect, when we talk of the things we are proud of, I was in the Chamber three or four years ago when we were debating joining Operation Sophia. Everybody spoke about how proud they were of the navy and I pointed out that, in fact, the legislation we were passing would lead to our delegating operational control differently...
- Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)
Alice-Mary Higgins: I know that, but that mission was under our direct command, whereas we delegated operational control under Operation Sophia. The nature of the mission changed and that is where circumstances changed. It is good that when it was decided under Operation Sophia to stop doing search and rescue completely, we withdrew ships. However, this amendment would mean that if we had a situation such as...
- Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)
Simon Coveney: I want to make a final point. First, we are involved in Operation Sophia and we have Defence Force personnel - I believe there are three of them; certainly, there are two naval officers - in the headquarters of the operation. The reason we do not have a ship in the Mediterranean is that we do not have the crewing resources and so on to do so right now. Unfortunately, some of our ships are...