Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 27: To ask the Minister for Defence the degree to which he has had discussions with his EU or UN colleagues in the context of peacekeeping or peace enforcement in respect of which the Defence Forces could be asked to participate; the most likely areas for such participation in the future; the likely strength of any such deployment; the extent of special training if any required in respect of such events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6940/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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During each EU Presidency both formal and informal meetings of Defence Ministers are held. Last November I attended the formal Defence Ministers meeting under the auspices of the Foreign Affairs Council. The Operation Commanders from the current EU led missions were also in attendance. Discussions were focused on these current operations and future proposed developments. Also at the meeting, Ministers of Defence received an update on the ongoing work regarding the EU's relationship with other Organisations, which included the United Nations and NATO. Regarding the relationship with the UN, Ministers discussed how to enhance EU support to UN peacekeeping operations.

In this regard, Ireland produced a Food For Thought paper in 2010 on "Enhancing EU/UN Co-operation in crisis management" which was circulated to EU Member States and discussed in various fora. The paper highlights a number of options as to how the EU, as part of its ongoing Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) capability development process, might identify niche or modular capabilities developed for CSDP crisis management operations, which could be made available and fully integrated into UN-led "blue-hat" crisis management operations.

During 2011, the EU's Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD) have further elaborated on Ireland's initiative. Consultations have been ongoing between the EU and the UN regarding possibilities for enhancing EU CSDP support to UN peacekeeping. Following on from this consultation process, the EU has now set out in a paper a number of possible actions which could enhance EU-UN cooperation.

These include:-

· The EU facilitating coordinated Member States contributions to the UN

· The EU providing a component to a UN operation (civilian or military)

· An EU autonomous civilian deployment in support of UN operations

· An EU autonomous military deployment in support of UN operations.

Further analysis of these concepts will be undertaken by the various Committees in the EU.

In relation to rapid response, the EU has the capability to deploy forces at high readiness, broadly based on the Battlegroups concept. The purpose of these Battlegroups is to provide a rapid level of response to developing international crises, allowing the EU to intervene during the critical early stages. To date, no particular location has been identified as suitable for the deployment of a Battlegroup.

Participation in Battlegroups is just one of a number of ways in which Ireland contributes to the EU's CSDP. Ireland has participated in the Nordic Battlegroup, which was on standby until 30 June 2011. In 2010 the Government approved Ireland's participation in the Austro-German Battlegroup, which will be on stand-by for the second six months of 2012. The other members of the Austro-German Battlegroup are Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

Within the EU itself, a number of committees, including the Political and Security Committee and the EU Military Committee, keep the issues of troop deployments, including rapid response, under constant review in consultation with all EU Member States.