Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Defence the estimated cost of sending the[i] LE Niamh[/i] to South America for 12 weeks between May and July 2010 coinciding with the 200th anniversary of South American independence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10992/10]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Foreign deployments are decided by the Minister for Defence in consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs. Each year, the Naval Service commits approximately 85-90 of its annual patrol days to foreign deployments. Locations are considered on the basis of the optimum yield that can be derived for Ireland. This year Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile all celebrate their bicentenary of independence and a visit to these locations has been agreed. This visit will replace a number of shorter foreign deployments that had originally been proposed.

The unique status of Naval vessels under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) affords the State an ideal opportunity to give Ireland a distinctive presence overseas. An Irish naval vessel is considered sovereign Irish territory regardless of its location, and therefore a ship affords rare promotional opportunities for state agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, An Bord Bia and the IDA to support Irish industry and services. In the current economic climate, promoting Ireland to business communities abroad has assumed added importance.

It is anticipated that the South American deployment will provide a unique opportunity to highlight the fact that Ireland is open for business. Over many years there have been strong cultural and heritage links between Ireland and South America. Mexico is Ireland's twentieth largest trading partner and a number of major Irish companies provide employment to thousands of Mexicans. Since the middle of the last century there has been political cooperation between Mexico and Ireland in relation to the international issue of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. There are well documented military links between the independence movement in South America and Irish born people. In Argentina, the eighth largest country in the world, half a million people claim Irish descent. This is the largest such group outside of the English speaking world. Argentine national hero, Admiral William Brown, founder of the Argentine Navy, was born in Foxford, Co. Mayo.

My Department and the Naval Service are working closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Enterprise Ireland and other State authorities to ensure that maximum economic benefit is derived from this visit. The itinerary has not yet been finalised and therefore it is not possible to inform the Deputy of the total costs to be incurred. When final costings are available I will forward them to the Deputy.

As already stated, the patrol days included in this visit will be drawn from the existing patrol day allocation for overseas visits. As such, there should be no diminution of service with regard to effective patrolling activity. The Naval Service will continue to meet all taskings assigned to them.