Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, to the House. I am delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to the debate. I am unique in that I have a special relationship with the Defence Forces as I get their nomination to contest the Seanad election. I meet the men and women of RACO and PDFORRA several times a year and I know at first hand what brave men and women they are. That is part of the reason I am here this morning.

As other Senators have pointed out, this is one of the biggest operations in which Ireland has ever got involved. It is also one of the most expensive, costing a total of €57 million, which is a great deal of money out of the budget of the Minister for Defence. It is being done for all the best reasons, mainly, humanitarian. In addition to sending 400 soldiers, we and our Defence Forces are honoured through the appointment of Major General Pat Nash as overall commander of the entire force. I wondered last night if Major General Nash was the first Irish commander but I was told this morning that in the 1960s an Irish man filled the same shoes in the Congo.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, has said it is an onerous and dangerous mission. Like the rest of us he has complete confidence in the professionalism and ability of our Defence Forces to carry out a mission such as this. I concur with Senator Burke who said it is the most dangerous mission ever undertaken and we should be concerned. I spoke with the general secretary of RACO, Brian O'Keeffe, this morning and he assured me that we can have complete confidence in our military experts who said, "we can do this mission and we can do it well". Let us get on with it. I look forward to hearing more about the mission when our troops go in the new year.

As the Minister, Deputy O'Dea, stated, this is the most ambitious and challenging overseas development to date. The mission of the Irish troops is threefold: first, to establish a safe and secure environment for refugees; second, to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid for the refugees; and, third, to protect UN and other NGO personnel.

It has been pointed out by the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, and other speakers that 180,000 Chadian and 236,000 Sudanese refugees are living in camps in eastern Chad, which gives an idea of the mayhem the country is experiencing. Some 170,000 people have been forced to leave their homes since September 2005. Malnutrition is reaching alarming levels, particularly among young children.

I often think it must be the saddest thing for any adult to see a young child starving. I remember the first, frightening pictures coming into our homes from Biafra more than 30 years ago. When I went to primary school in Tullamore, every Friday we brought in a penny for the black babies. This may no longer be politically correct but it was certainly correct at that time. The Irish people go back that far and further in terms of our aid to more deprived areas of the world.

I was touched when the Minister of State referred to Mrs. Mary Robinson's role and her meeting with displaced persons and refugees. Two or three years ago a lovely young woman from the Congo with two children contacted me. She told me terrible stories of her being raped, their entire family being murdered and her daughters being tortured. She was in a refugee camp but there were times when she was not safe there. I am glad she has now been given refugee status in Ireland. I am proud of our country and of the Government for giving people like Jan a safe haven and a new start in life. Her two little daughters are five and seven and look forward to a bright Christmas this year as she just received refugee status in the past month.

Other speakers have pointed out that Chad is the size of France, Spain and most of Germany combined — we seem to be working from the same script. The main area where our troops will be centred is eastern Chad, which is the size of France. A small country such as Ireland understands how massive such an area is. The country is landlocked, with rough terrain and difficult infrastructure. There are few roads, if any, and, as Senator Kieran Phelan noted, as it will be difficult to get machines, armoured cars and the like into the region, much of this will have to be done by air.

Liberia was a smaller, more tightly scaled mission. I take this opportunity to congratulate the Defence Forces on a very successful mission in Liberia, which has only recently finished. I take my hat off to them. They carried out their duties in a professional way, as we have come to expect from them.

I have no doubt the 50-strong Army Ranger team who are going out to set up the mission are exceptionally well-trained men and women and will be well able to prepare the ground. On "Morning Ireland" this morning, a man whose name escapes me described how the rebels attack. He concluded that with the strength of the army force in place to protect the refugees, the rebels will back away because they are not equipped to deal with the force they will come up against.

The Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, made a wonderful presentation which has given us much food for thought. He stated, "Despite being one of the smallest member states, with less than 1% of the European Union's population, Ireland is providing more than 10% of the planned EU force." We can be very proud of this. As Senator Burke noted, we know peace comes at a high price, but we in this small island also know the value of peace. I am proud we are sending in our troops.

At the recent RACO conference in Kilkenny, Colonel Brian O'Keeffe called for additional funding to be made available for equipment such as armoured personnel carriers. Through this mission, we know how important equipment is for our forces.

Like other speakers, I wish our men and women well on this mission. Living in Sligo, just 20 miles from Finner Camp in Bundoran, I know what it is like for the families of the brave men and women we are proud to send to Chad. The families will miss them. It is a difficult time and a dangerous mission. They are in our thoughts and our prayers. We look forward to wishing them bon voyage in the new year. We wish them well.