Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Defence if the Defence Forces will continue to lease helicopters to support the Chad mission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24838/09]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The Defence Forces signed a contract at the end of May 2008 with a UK company, Air Partner Commercial Jets, for the charter of two Mi -8T helicopters to support its operations with EUFOR in Chad. The helicopters arrived in theatre in June 2008 and were contracted to March 2009.

The Defence Forces contracted the helicopters for the operational deployment of troops in EUFOR and to facilitate the rapid movement of supplies, stores and equipment from the Forward Logistic Base in Abéché to the Battalion base in Goz Beida in the South East of Chad, where the main body of Irish troops is located. The contract for the helicopters includes the provision of crew, maintenance and insurance.

On 15 March 2009, MINURCAT, the United Nation's led mission in Chad and the Central African Republic assumed operational control of the United Nations force of 2,085 personnel, including 1,877 troops re-hatted from eight EUFOR contributors, including Ireland.

In order to ensure that sufficient helicopter support was retained in support of the Defence Forces contingent in Goz Beida for the duration of the transition period from EUFOR to a UN mission, the contract for the helicopters was extended for a further 6 months to October 2009. It is considered essential to the continued participation of the Defence Forces in the mission that helicopters are available, particularly during the rainy season.