Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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587. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence for a report on the recent decision for Ireland to participate in an European Union United Kingdom-led battle group; how the new United Kingdom-led battle group will operate; the training exercises or deployment he expects to occur within this new framework; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17296/16]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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At its meeting of 14^thJuly 2015, the Government approved the participation of five members of the Permanent Defence Force in the UK Battlegroup 2016, which will be on stand-by for 6 months from July 2016. On 9th June 2016 Dail Éireann passed a Resolution on Ireland's accession to the Memorandum of Understanding concerning the establishment and operation of the UK Battlegroup. The UK led EU Battlegroup Memorandum of Understanding is an agreement between the participants, namely Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and the UK, which sets out principles in relation to the operation, deployment and management of the UK led EU Battlegroup. The MoU which has been laid before the House is broadly structured as follows:

Sections 1 to 4 deal with the definitions and reference documents that are applicable to this MoU. They define the UK as the Framework Nation and broadly outline the purpose of the MoU.

Sections 5 to 8 deal with the consultation process, exercise, training, certification and the operation of the Battlegroup. Most Battlegroup training will take place in the contributing Member States - i.e. Irish troops will mainly be trained in Ireland.

Sections 9 to 13 outline the arrangements in terms of financing, logistics, classified information, the status of forces and the issue of claims and liabilities.

Sections 14 to 16 deal with the process of participation of additional States in the Battlegroup, the timelines for coming into effect and termination of the Memorandum of Understanding and the process for dispute resolution.

For the most part, Battlegroup training takes place in the contributing member States i.e. Irish troops are mainly trained in Ireland, Swedish troops in Sweden etc. Training and military exercises which have already taken place over the six months in preparation for the Battlegroup standing up on 01 July 2016 are set out in the table below.

In respect of deployment, it is the case that no Battlegroup has ever deployed to date. Each Battlegroup participant retains the right to deploy or not to deploy its forces, irrespective of an EU decision to launch a Battlegroup operation. Equally, each Battlegroup participant retains the sovereign right to withdraw its contingent at any time. The command of each contingent remains under national control, with operational control delegated to the operational commander. Any deployment of the Irish contribution as part of the UK Battlegroup will be subject to a UN mandate and Government approval. The following training exercises were undertaken as part of the preparations for the Battlegroup Standby Period.

UK led EU Battlegroup, 2016-2

Participants: Ireland, UK, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania.