Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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8. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the Irish arrangements for the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management under the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10946/14]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM) is responsible for advising the Political and Security Committee (PSC) on the civilian aspects of crisis management. CIVCOM plans and monitors the progress of EU civilian crisis management missions established in the framework of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The Committee meets twice a week. Ireland is represented at CIVCOM by the Deputy Representative to the Political and Security Committee.

Civilian crisis management missions (CSDP Missions) are established by the European Union, in order to prevent the initiation or renewal of conflict and to help societies or fragile states to recover from violent conflict. Civilian operations can pursue both short-term measures to bolster peace and security as well as complementary longer-term activities to strengthen the rule of law, democracy and human rights; to build capacity within civil societies and state institutions; and generally to engender the stable conditions necessary for sustainable development to take place. Reflecting the range of tasks undertaken by civilian peace operations, a variety of expertise is called for, in the form of: police officers; rule of law experts such as judges and prosecutors; prison officers and customs officers; diplomats; human rights experts and gender experts; and also technical experts from the military in relation to security sector reform, disarmament or as agreement observers.

Ireland makes an active contribution to the development of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy by contributing civilian personnel to EU CSDP Missions. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade currently deploys ten civilians to EU CSDP Missions in Georgia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Palestine, Djibouti and Somalia. Two more civilians will be deployed to Missions in Afghanistan and Niger in the coming weeks. Six members of an Garda Síochána are also deployed to the CSDP Mission in Kosovo.