The Government has agreed in principle to supply troops to the EU's rapid response force, the so-called "battle groups". Marie O'Halloran reports.
The Minister for Defence, Mr O'Dea, told the Dáil that the Cabinet agreed at its meeting on Tuesday that he "should advise my EU counterparts of Ireland's preparedness to enter into consultations with partners with a view to participation in rapid response elements".
The Minister also said there was no question of deploying Defence Forces personnel for the UN assistance mission in Iraq "at this time".
No such request had been received from the UN, but he added that if the Iraqi situation stabilised and became more secure, and with an "appropriate Security Council resolution, the Government would consider a request from the UN for troops".
Answering Defence questions, Mr O'Dea said that because of a long tradition in UN peacekeeping operations, Ireland "can make a positive contribution to EU rapid response elements".
A detailed analysis of the implications of such participation was ongoing and included such issues as "potential costs, legislative aspects, questions relating to potential multilateral partners and deployability aspects" and which countries Ireland should link up with.
Once the analysis was completed "I will return to Cabinet with proposals regarding the level of such participation".
The Minister added that participation would remain subject to the "triple lock requirement" of Government, Dáil and UN authorisation.
Fine Gael's defence spokesman, Mr Billy Timmins, asked if the move would mean an increase in the number of troops, currently 850, on standby for UN operations, since such battle groups consisted of 1,500 personnel. He also pointed out that "the Defence Forces have said that for Irish troops to train on foreign soil may require legislative change".
The Green Party's defence spokesman, Mr John Gormley, said it was "clear from the Minister's response that the Government is committed to EU battle groups. He should come out and say it clearly."
Mr O'Dea said there were no plans to increase the standby numbers and discussions had not yet started with other EU members, because the concept was only formulated last June at the EU Council meeting. Some member-states had been quick to signal their availability but "Ireland still has a number of questions on the matter. My Department has raised questions with the EU civil service in Brussels and our EU counterparts, such as Finland and Sweden. Clear answers must be given to these questions." Asked about reports that Ireland had been requested to send troops to Iraq, the Minister told Labour's defence spokesman, Mr Joe Sherlock, that "we have not discussed this at Cabinet because the situation remains hypothetical".
Pressed about his views on the current situation, the Minister said that "I did not agree with unilateral action in Iraq and that remains the position".