O'Dea confirms troops to head for Sri Lanka

SRI LANKA: The Government is to sanction the deployment of Irish troops to Sri Lanka to assist in the humanitarian operation there following the St Stephen's Day tsunami, the Minister for Defence Mr O'Dea, has confirmed. But Irish soldiers will not be deployed to tsunami-hit Thailand and any deployment to Indonesia is unlikely.

The Thai authorities have already informed the international community that they do not want foreign troops on their soil. The Indonesian government has said foreign military personnel deployed there would be expected to leave the country by the end of March.

Mr O'Dea said this timeframe had been set by the Indonesians because of "internal political/military conflict" which persisted in the country. While sending troops to Indonesia had not been completely ruled out it was questionable if anything substantial could be achieved by an Irish military team in such a short period of time.

"So the main focus of our attention would be in Sri Lanka and the real focus of what we will do there is to provide logistical support," Mr O'Dea said.

"There's a lot of manpower in terms of troops and helpers of various sorts on the ground and what's needed there are people with an expertise in particular areas and certainly people with organisational capacity.

"We should know [ within 24 hours] what precisely would be needed there and we would be ready, able and willing to supply what is requested of us."

Mr O'Dea was speaking at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, yesterday where he was signing the contract for the €49 million purchase of four Utility AB 139 helicopters for the Irish Air Corps. He said "half a dozen or maybe less" troops would probably go to Sri Lanka within the next fortnight.

This would include those with expertise in logistics, transport and clean-water supply. A number of Defence Forces personnel had already volunteered to travel, some members of the mooted deployment had already been selected.

Any deployment to Sri Lanka could last several months and it was possible the Sri Lankan government might request more troops from Ireland "very shortly". Mr O'Dea said he and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern, were confident Ireland could meet any Sri Lankan request for assistance.

Meanwhile, Mr O'Dea said yesterday's signing of the contract for four Air Corps helicopters was a step forward for the Defence Forces. The helicopters are being bought from the US-Italian BellAgusta Aerospace Company and will be built at the group's facility in Milan.

A price of €49 million, including VAT, has been agreed and the Government has an option to buy two more. The first pair will be delivered next year, the remainder in 2007.

Each of the twin turbine helicopters can carry eight fully equipped troops and crew. They also have an air ambulance and night vision capability. They will be used for training purposes and on live military exercises in Ireland only. They will also be used for inland search and rescue missions, aid to the civil power exercise and VIP transport.