The new Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has confirmed the Government's commitment to produce a White Paper on the Defence Forces' role in the context of European defence policy. He was speaking to the staff association representing non-commissioned ranks, the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA) at its sixth annual conference in Tralee, Co Kerry yesterday.
Mr Smith told the 200 delegates the White Paper would cover the Defence Forces' role in the national and international security context.
He said: "I see it [the White Paper] as having a number of high-level objectives, including the provision of a five to 10-year framework within which defence policy can evolve."
He added: "This framework will include the options arising from the input of the Minister for Foreign Affairs deriving from the overall international security context and the national security environment deriving from the Minister for Justice's area of responsibility."
Its purpose was "to provide a programme of ongoing reform of our defence services, especially in relation to the future size, configuration and resourcing of the Defence Forces consistent with the national and international security environment and the state of the public finances."
The White Paper, he said, should also provide a description of the "overall national and international security context, together with an analysis of the required decisions and a description of the national role of the Defence Forces and the way in which the present/future defence configuration matches requirements."
Earlier this year the Defence Forces began their first operation under NATO command when 50 military police officers served with the Stability Force (Sfor) in Bosnia.