Vol. 403 No. 6
47 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the way in which overseas duty for members of the police force is divided out by the United Nations among member states; whether his Department have applied for such duty to be allocated to Ireland; the number for whom such duty was sought; and the number of gardaí who have indicated their desire to take on such duty.
It is for the UN Security Council to decide on peace-keeping operations and to agree upon a mandate authorising the participation of any military and civilian personnel, including police, in such operations. Once a mandate has been agreed by the Security Council the Secretary General chooses to make a request to those countries whom he considers acceptable for political and operational reasons to provide such personnel as he considers appropriate.
Ireland has a consistent record of responding favourably to requests from the UN Secretary General to provide military and civilian personnel. To date, Ireland has been asked on only one occasion to supply police personnel for a peace-keeping operation. This was in Namibia where 50 gardaí served as police monitors in the UN Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in the period leading to the independence of that country. The only other UN peace-keeping operation that includes a civilian police component is the UN Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for which Ireland was asked to provide military personnel only.
The UN Secretariat is aware that the Government will always give careful consideration to any request for support for a UN peace-keeping operation. It would be for the Government to evaluate whether in the circumstances of the time it was possible for us to respond favourably to such a request.
