Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Defence if he will provide in tabular form the number of suspect devices that the army disposal unit has had to deal with in each of the past five years and to date in 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9958/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The primary responsibility for the maintenance of law and order rests with An Garda Síochána. The Defence Forces, pursuant to their role of rendering Aid to the Civil Power (ATCP), assist An Garda Síochána when requested to do so. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Teams respond when a request is made by An Garda Síochána for assistance in dealing with a suspect device or for the removal of old ordnance. The number of times that the Defence Forces EOD teams have been deployed in the past five years and to date in 2013 is set out below.

Apart from IEDs, other types of callouts would include hoaxes, false alarms, post-blast analysis, unstable chemicals and conventional munitions destruction of old historical artillery shells.