Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 90: To ask the Minister for Defence the legislative changes which are necessary in order to remove the voluntary nature of Defence Force personnel being deployed abroad in humanitarian operations in response to natural and man-made disasters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17181/06]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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It is necessary to update the Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, of 1960 to clarify and modernise the legislation in relation to our participation in humanitarian operations. The issue here is that the Government, under the existing legislation, cannot dispatch troops for service on emergency or disaster relief operations. As a matter of course, there is normally no UN Security Council resolution for such situations, since they do not generally represent a threat to international peace and security.

Under current regulations, Defence Forces personnel must volunteer to serve outside the Defence Forces on secondment to a civil undertaking, similar to any other citizen, so as they can deploy to a disaster zone. They cannot be otherwise deployed under the current legislation. The intention of the particular amendment to the Defence Acts is to enable them to be deployed as Defence Forces personnel on such operations whereby they will operate under normal Defence Forces command and control arrangements and where their seniority and other rights are fully protected as a norm. The proposed amendment will enable the Government to dispatch a contingent of the Defence Forces and Defence Forces capabilities to assist in humanitarian situations.