THE CABINET HAS cleared the way for ten Defence Forces personnel to take part in a major European military exercise. 

The EU Crisis Management event will take place in Cadiz in Spain from 16 October to 22 October and is a major part of the Strategic Compass strategy around the community’s security. 

That Common Defence policy document, released in March 2022, is designed to strengthen the EU’s security and defence policy by 2030.

Part of that strategy is to enable the community to react “rapidly and robustly” to a crisis.

That plan includes the EU Rapid Deployment Capacity which will allow the union us to immediately deploy 5000 troops to respond to major incidents.

The exercise, entitled MILEX23, will practice that concept with planning and execution of an autonomous Military Operation in a coastal area, in a hybrid threat environment.

The event will be hosted by Spain and with military forces from France, Hungary, Italy, Romania and neutral Austria participating.

MILEX23 will be a live exercise with the participating militaries forming an EU Battlegroup. They will practice and test conventional land, sea, air and special forces capabilities.   

The Defence Forces received a request from the Director General of the European Union Military Staff in February 2023 to take part.

The Irish troops will take part in the exercise in the training area in Cadiz, Spain.

It is understood that the Tánaiste Micheál Martin who is also Minister for Defence and Foreign Affairs told cabinet that it is hoped the exercise will give the Defence Forces experience in EU command and control systems as well as crisis management procedures.

Earlier this year, the Government approved Ireland’s participation in the next German-led EU Battlegroup which will involve a two-year commitment from 1 January 2024.

This will involve the unit training in Ireland and completing a multinational exercise off-island to ensure the Irish unit is fully interoperable with its EU colleagues

Any decision for greater involvement would see the Government engaging the “triple lock” of a UN Mandate and Dáil and Government approval.

The costs of the exercise will be financed through the European Peace Facility.

Ireland is also engaged with a number of European Defence Agency projects as well as operational capability assessments with Nato. 

With reporting from Christina Finn.