Written answers

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Department of Defence

EU Battlegroups

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Defence if he will provide an update on Ireland's participation in the Austro-German Battlegroup; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48476/12]

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is currently participating in the Austro-German led Battlegroup, which will be on stand-by until 31 December 2012. In 2010, the then Government approved Ireland’s participation in this Battlegroup. The other members of the Austro-German Battlegroup are Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Our contribution is a Reconnaissance Company together with staff posts at both the Operational and Force Headquarters. Should the Battlegroup be deployed, Ireland’s contribution would amount to approximately 175 personnel. During the stand-by period one officer has been deployed to the Battlegroup Headquarters in Ulm, Germany. This officer is engaged in training and planning activities.

Under the Battlegroup Concept, Battlegroups are designed to be operational within 5-10 days of approval of an operation by the Council of the European Union. Battlegroup operations must be sustainable for at least 30 days which can be extended to a maximum of 120 days.

Training of the manoeuvre elements of the Austro-German Battlegroup took place in the contributing Member States - Irish troops were trained in Ireland. There were no joint field exercises or manoeuvre training with other elements in the Austro-German Battlegroup.

Any decision to deploy the Austro-German Battlegroup will continue to be taken by unanimity by the Council of the European Union. In addition, any decision by Ireland to participate in a specific Battlegroup operation is subject to our national sovereign decision-making procedures - “Triple Lock”, i.e. UN mandate, Government and Dáil approval. At this time, there are no proposals under consideration for the deployment of the Austro/German Battlegroup.

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