Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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1331. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number and ranks of the Defence Forces personnel who served in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015; and the duration of their posting. [12967/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Members of the Permanent Defence Force serve in a number of missions in Africa. In 2015, Defence Forces personnel served in the following missions in sub-Saharan Africa: UNOCI(United Nations Mission in Ivory Coast)

MONUSCO (United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo)

EUTM Mali(EU-Led Training Mission in Mali).

The average duration of a tour of duty by Irish personnel in the above missions is six (6) months. With the exception of one officer who served for seven months with UNOCI, all deployments to the missions in sub-Saharan Africa, in 2015, were of six months duration or less.

A breakdown of personnel by rank and mission who served for a period of time during the course of 2015 is outlined in the following table: