asked the Minister for Defence if he will state the number of Army officers who volunteered for duty in the Lebanon as U.N.O. observers.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Army Officers as U.N.O. Observers.
A general invitation was not issued to officers to volunteer for duty with the U.N. Observation Group in the Lebanon. Twelve eminently suitable officers were invited to volunteer and all of them did so. From these, five were selected, this being the number requested by the Secretary General of the U.N.
Am I correct in suggesting that the reports in the daily papers in this connection were absolutely inaccurate in so far as they suggested that all Army officers were entitled to volunteer for service and that from the number of applications so received suitable members were selected? I have no objection whatever to the five selected but is it not a fact that the officer personnel of the Army were presented with a fait accompli?
The fact is that 12 eminently suitable officers were invited to volunteer and they all did so. From those 12, five were selected.
Would the Minister tell me how he arrived at the idea of selecting 12 men from whom volunteers should then be selected?
It was the most practicable way of dealing with the matter. Twelve suitable people were selected.
These supplementary questions are entirely outside the scope of the question.
That is what Deputy Dr. Browne wanted to do in his organisation.
Would it be possible to send Deputy O'Malley as an observer to the Lebanon and save the Taoiseach a lot of embarrassment?