Cabinet to send military to Congo

The Cabinet yesterday approved a proposal from Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea to send 10 military personnel to the Congo to help oversee elections there in July.

Mr O'Dea also told the Dáil that in the next few weeks, he would bring the draft heads of a Bill to Government to allow the Defence Forces to participate in humanitarian operations in response to disasters.

During Defence questions, the Minister also revealed that the Easter parade in Dublin cost about €325,000. "Although I will not say it was cheap, it was quite reasonable at that price," the Minister said of the 90th anniversary commemoration parade of 1916.

He told Green Party spokesman John Gormley during Defence questions: "We learned, as I have always suspected, people love pageantry, the Army is a popular institution and people like to see demonstrated publicly that we have a modern, well-equipped and well-trained Army." The Minister said that no fundamental decision had been taken about the commemoration format for Easter 2007 and future years, and he asked for deputies' suggestions, through the centenary celebrations committee. From this year on "there will be a significant annual commemoration of the 1916 Rising on Easter Sunday with a military component".

Earlier, speaking about Ireland's international peacekeeping duties, Mr O'Dea said the Government "is disposed" to accept a UN request to extend its military commitment in Liberia and Sierra Leone until May 2007, although no formal decision has been made. The Minister insisted, however, that Ireland's commitment there would end no later than May 2007.

The Government had approved the deployment of 10 military personnel for the elections in the Congo in July. Asked by Labour's spokesman Joe Costello about the Niemba ambush in the Congo in 1960 and the treatment of the survivors, Mr O'Dea said he would be delighted to meet the two survivors of the ambush. The Minister said a colonel had been appointed to look into the matter, but one of the survivors would not be available for interview until after this month. "When he comes back, we will bring the process to a conclusion fairly quickly."

Asked by Fine Gael's defence spokesman Billy Timmins about Ireland's participation in EU battlegroups, Mr O'Dea said that because the most soldiers Ireland could send abroad at any one time was 850, the State was dealing with Sweden and the other Nordic countries.

The Minister said Irish troops worked with the Swedes in Liberia and "interoperability between the Irish and the Swedes is very good.

"We are familiar with how the Swedish army operates and vice versa, and we know each other's chains of command."