Eamon Gilmore
Question:13 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Defence the number of Irish troops currently serving in Somalia; if it is intended to extend their term there; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Troops in Somalia.
The Irish contribution to the second United Nations operation in Somalia — UNOSOM II, consists mainly of an 80 strong transport company located in Baidoa, made up of six officers, 23 NCOs and 51 privates. In addition, three staff officers and a liaison team consisting of one officer and one NCO are located in Force Headquarters, Mogadishu.
The question of continued participation in UNOSOM II will be considered by the Government in the very near future.
Will the Minister confirm if he said on radio that he never believed we should have participated in a peace-enforcement operation? If so, how does he square that with his spirited defence of the proposal he brought before this House which sent Irish troops to Somalia on a peace enforcement mission? When may we expect to have the report which the Defence Forces (Amendment) Act, 1993, obliges him to put before the House soon after January this year on the Irish troops operation in Somalia and indeed troops in other parts of the world?
I make no apologies for my views expressed on radio today because I have always felt and continue to feel that peace-keeping is exactly what it means, peace-keeping. Peace enforcement is a contradiction in terms; one cannot enforce peace. In response to a request from the United Nations we introduced the Defence Forces (Amendment) Bill, 1993, to give effect to its request to being an enforcement element into its mandate. However, in the meantime my views have not changed. Consistency has probably been one of the greatest weaknesses of my political life and a consistency of opinion expressed at that time was as valid as it is now.
The Minister did not respond to the second part of my question.
Perhaps the Deputy would remind me of that?
The report that is due to be put before the House.
That report will come before the Dáil in the not too distant future. I cannot put a time limit on it but there is an obligation under the Act for me to do that.
Will the Minister state whether the next contingent will serve under the new peace-keeping mandate from the UN? I am very pleased that none of our troops was injured during this term of service. Will the Minister agree that wisdom is now prevailing and that the short entry to the whole area of peace enforcement was sufficient to show that peace-keeping is far better than peace enforcement?
I agree with the latter part of the Deputy's question that peace-keeping is inconsistent and illogical in the context of peace enforcement; they are self exclusive. In relation to the first part of the Deputy's question, I have been in Camp Shannon under its present Commanding Officer, Commandant Maurice O'Donoghue. I should like to pay tribute, as has Deputy Barrett, to the 80-man company there. They have done magnificent work, have integrated into the local community in an extraordinary way, in a manner in which we in Ireland uniquely have a capacity to integrate wherever we may be; we are born missionaries whether in Army uniform or clerical garb. Altogether, I should like to pay a special tribute to those men.
In response, to the Deputy's question about a rotation, I understand that that matter will be examined by the Government in the very near future, that it must be examined before 10 March next. The Deputy will be aware that the Army Chief of Staff, General Noel Bergin, and the Director of Operations are visiting Baidoa on Monday next for a number of days to assess the position first-hand and to advise both me and the Government in their military wisdom, on the continuance of our presence in Somalia.
As I said on the radio at lunchtime, I should like to think that our response to a new rotation would be positive because, since Somalia hit the headlines in August 1992 — arising out of my visit there and the subsequent visit of our esteemed President and myself — it has become part of what we are. Therefore, I should like to think that we would respond to what I would consider to be the majority will of the people here.
I put it to the Minister that he is entirely inconsistent in relation to this question of peace enforcement and peacekeeping in that he is on record on 6 July 1973 as trenchantly supporting the motion before this House that we send troops to Somalia in pursuit of the UNOSOM II peace enforcement mandate, arguing at that time that we had a responsibility in relation to peace enforcement, contending that it could not be left entirely to the larger powers. Perhaps the Minister would reread his contribution in July 1993 and his contribution on the amendment of the Defence Act which was necessary to allow Irish troops participate in the UNOSOM II peace enforcement operations; when he will realise, that I was virtually the only Member of this House who argued against such a move. I welcome the fact that the Minister has now come round to my view in relation to this issue of peacekeeping versus peace enforcement. Therefore, I take it the Minister will not be bringing further motions before this House — certainly for the remainder of the lifetime of this Government — to send Irish troops on peace enforcement operations?
As the Deputy says, there is no "never" in politics as I cannot say what may or may not happen either in the near or distant future, I cannot give the kind of undertaking he refers to. In relation to his suggestion that I have been inconsistent, nothing could be further from the truth——
It is there.
I realise it is there but I was responding to a request for a mandate which was then in existence and the Government was doing its duty by the international community, by Somalia in particular. Of course, I had to respond in that particular fashion but that in no way is inconsistent with the views I have always expressed. The Deputy did not convert me to the idea that we should be a peacekeeping nation simpliciter. Therefore, there is nothing inconsistent between one and the other.
It is inconsistent because the Minister argued against that position both in this House and at the Select Committee on Legislation and Security.