Ierland neemt geen deel aan EU-defensiemacht (en)

Ireland is not to take part in the European Union's battlegroups due to constitutional difficulties.

The Irish Times reports that Irish defence minister Willie O'Dea ruled out participation for the foreseeable future because of major legal and constitutional difficulties.

Ireland is a neutral country and needs a UN mandate before deploying its troops.

It is foreseen that the EU battlegroups should be deployable within 10-15 days but getting a UN Security Council Resolution passed usually takes longer.

"The Security Council doesn't pass resolutions in five to 10 days," said Mr O'Dea adding that a resolution is "a necessary mechanism to trigger [Ireland's] participation".

Other aspects of the battlegroup proposal - which envisions teams of up to 1,500 troops being rapidly deployed to trouble spots - are also causing problems for Ireland.

As a small country it does not have the means to provide a battlegroup on its own but was hoping to participate with other neutral countries, Finland and Sweden.

However, it appears that under a defence act of 1954, Irish troops cannot be sent abroad for training, while having foreign troops in the country may breach the Irish Constitution.

This says that there may be only one army in the state.

These revelations are set to be an embarrassment for the Irish government at the EU level as it had been part of the original decision to set up battlegroups.

The EU's battlegroups are supposed to be ready for action by 2007.