Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 348: To ask the Minister for Defence if he is satisfied regarding the modernisation and upgrading of the Defence Forces in line with modern requirements and international developments in view of the likelihood of Irish troops serving abroad alongside other defence forces; the extent to which training and equipment has been standardised for such operations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39487/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Government White Paper on Defence of 2000 set out as a fundamental objective the development of an affordable and sustainable conventional Defence Forces, with an appropriate investment in training and equipment necessary to carry out all assigned roles. Since the publication of the White Paper and subsequent Strategy Statements, the Defence Forces have undertaken a continuous modernisation process, and the production of the ten-year Equipment Development Plan (2009-2018) aims at prioritising equipment procurement to ensure that the Defence Forces have the most modern and effective range of protective equipment, weaponry and training available. The Equipment Development Plan is regularly reviewed to ensure that Defence Forces procurement is kept in line with new technology, and where possible, cooperation is undertaken with other like minded countries in achieving economies of scale.

Preparations for Defence Forces operational deployments and the development of military capabilities have necessitated coherence in a number of key planning areas, particularly an equipment procurement plan complemented by demanding training programmes which ensures interoperability with other defence forces deployed on UN-mandated missions abroad. The Defence Forces have been able to bench-mark the success of this interoperability through their deployments with the EU Battlegroups and extensive deployments on UN-mandated missions abroad.

I am advised that military training techniques are up to date in all respects. Defence Forces training plans are structured to provide the capabilities needed to execute the roles assigned to them by Government. The challenges of preparing military units for participation in international peace support operations constitute the major dimension of Defence Forces collective training. The primary focus of this training is the attainment of a capability for military interoperability in order to conduct peace support operations to international standards. Training standards in the Defence Forces are constantly benchmarked against best international practice and Defence Forces personnel have full access to the best international training standards available.

The Defence Forces deployment to EUFOR CHAD/CAR, later with MINURCAT and now in Lebanon proved that the Defence Forces having trained to a very high standard, were able to operate at a very high tempo where our equipment and personnel proved equal to other troop contributing nations.