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Does the IDF make any money?

  • 06-05-2012 6:11pm
    #1
    MANUTD99
    Registered Users Posts: 1,162 ✭✭✭


    Hi All,

    I fully respect our DF. Many generations of my family have served. I myself enjoy military history and read up/watch as much as I can.

    My question is, does our country make any money for our peace keeping missions and being in the UN?

    From talking to relatives,reading up and looking on the web, the Irish army has a lot of decent kit that sounds like it costs a lot of money. Decent kit I don't think we need here in Ireland but maybe on peace keeping tour.(Open for correction but I think we brought a lot of kit to Chad)


    Just wondering if our participation with the UN covers any of these costs or is it all down to the taxpayer


Comments

  • #2
    testicle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,429 ✭✭✭testicle


    Yes.


  • #3
    Victor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,490 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    The UN pays a contribution for certain missions. This is the source of the UN duty allowance. I get the impression they don't really pay for the fancy stuff - if they did, only fancy stuff would go on missions.
    MANUTD99 wrote: »
    Does the IDF make any money?
    Only the lads up in the mint. :pac:


  • #4
    Poccington
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,497 ✭✭✭Poccington


    The money the DF uses to purchase equipment comes from the DF's budget.

    Trust me, in terms of military spending compared to other countries, we do it on the cheap.


  • #5
    Praetorian Saighdiuir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,968 ✭✭✭✭Praetorian Saighdiuir


    MANUTD99 wrote: »
    ..... the Irish army has a lot of decent kit that sounds like it costs a lot of money. Decent kit I don't think we need here in Ireland but maybe on peace keeping tour.(Open for correction but I think we brought a lot of kit to Chad)


    When you deploy to a place like Chad, there is NO infrastructure on site. We built the camp from the ground up and yes we needed to buy essential bits and pieces. Any items that were purchased were needed otherwise you could not sustain an army in that type of location for a prolonged or any period of time.

    Large tents were used for accommodation and miscellaneous use, portacabin style modular units were used for dining / medical / operational use. These were supported by mobile generators which covered air con and electricity. The DoD leased certain pieces of the equipment that was needed. Anything that came out of the DF budget was procured "on the cheap". Upon "pulling out" of the mission area, sometimes certain items of kit were sold on to other parties. Im not talking about military kit, just the likes of the portacabins etc. Otherwise stuff is reused by the DF in other roles.

    For every soldier, vehicle and certain item of kit that we have on the ground on a UN mission, the UN pays a percentage to our Government. Years ago in the Leb, other militaries had vehicles that were broken down or unusable shipped to the mission area from their own country and claim they were in use. This generated more money for their Governments.


  • #6
    Delancey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,451 ✭✭✭Delancey


    A Canadian Army General ( I forget his name ) complained that many countries seemed to view sending troops on a UN mission as a handy way of earning ' hard currency ' and otherwise contributing little to overseas operations.
    His comments were not directed at Ireland but rather some Asian / African armies.


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  • #7
    gunnerfitzy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,431 ✭✭✭gunnerfitzy


    Delancey wrote: »
    A Canadian Army General ( I forget his name ) complained that many countries seemed to view sending troops on a UN mission as a handy way of earning ' hard currency ' and otherwise contributing little to overseas operations.
    His comments were not directed at Ireland but rather some Asian / African armies.

    The statistics from the UN on troop contributions make for interesting reading.

    http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/contributors/2012/March12_1.pdf

    One may be excused for having doubts as to the rationale of many of the largest contributors. Many wouldn't exactly be at the forefront of promoting peace, reconciliation and human rights.


  • #8
    It wasn't me!
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,034 ✭✭✭✭It wasn't me!


    Also worth noting that in the initial years of armed peacekeeping deployments, you had a lot of newly independent African and Asian countries looking to demonstrate their sovereignty on an international stage. There was also the fact that at the time, it was thought that African peacekeeping troops for African conflicts made sense (Even if this does ignore centuries of ethnic, religious and political conflicts between the multitude of groups under the label "African").


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