asked the Minister for External Affairs how many Army personnel are now involved in the Middle East emergency truce supervision; whether more personnel are expected to be called for such work; if political briefing in the present situation is given before departure; if this briefing includes his present assessment of frontiers in the area; and if he will give the respective ranks of those at present engaged in this supervision.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Army Personnel in Middle East.
3.
There are at present 12 Irish Army Officers in the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), namely, one lieutenant colonel, two commandants and nine captains, but one of these officers is returning within a few days on completion of his tour of duty. We have just received a request from the Secretary-General, to which we are acceding, to provide another officer.
Irish officers are, of course, fully informed and trained in their duties before their departure on a United Nations peace-keeping mission, but neither before nor during service in a particular operation do they receive instructions, political or military, from the Government or from any authority other than the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
What I have just said applies, of course, to the third and fourth parts of the Deputy's question in which he asks if political briefing is given to Army personnel before their departure for the Middle East, and if such briefing includes my assessment of the frontiers in the area. However, as the Deputy may feel prompted to put supplementary questions based on some report, article, cartoon or letter calculated to mislead readers not fully informed on the vital and complex issues in the Middle East—issues which if not settled peacefully on a wise and reasonable basis are likely to lead to the fourth war in the area which might well detonate world war III—let me add that each and every one of the four relevant draft resolutions tabled at the recent Emergency Assembly contained a paragraph which called upon Israel to withdraw from the territory occupied by her forces as a result of the recent conflict. The list of the 109 members of the United Nations who voted in favour of one or other of these four draft resolutions is as follows:
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AfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaArgentinaAustraliaAustriaBarbadosBelgiumBoliviaBotswanaBrazilBulgariaBurmaBurundiByelorussiaCambodiaCameroonCanadaCentral African RepublicCeylonChadChileChinaColombiaCongo (Bra)Congo (DR)Costa RicaCubaCyprusCzechoslovakia |
DahomeyDenmarkDominican Rep.EcuadorEl SalvadorEthiopiaFranceGambiaGabonGhanaGreeceGuatemalaGuineaGuyanaHondurasHungaryIcelandIrelandIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqItalyIvory CoastJamaicaJapanJordan |
KuwaitLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyaLuxembourgMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaliMauritaniaMexicoMongoliaMoroccoNepalNetherlandsNew ZealandNicaraguaNigeriaNorwayPakistanPanamaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPolandRomania |
Saudi ArabiaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSpainSudanSyriaTanzaniaThailandTogoTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyUgandaUkraineUSSRUARUnited Kingdom of Great BritainUnited StatesUpper VoltaUruguayVenezuelaYemenYugoslaviaZambia |
Ora pro nobis.
I wish to say also in reply to that part of the Deputy's question which refers to frontiers that the draft resolution which the Irish delegation voted for was A/L523/Rev.1 sponsored by 20 Latin American countries, the text of which reads as follows:—
The General Assembly,
Considering that all Member States have an inescapable obligation to preserve peace and, consequently, to avoid the use of force in the international sphere,
Considering further that the ceasefire ordered by the Security Council and accepted by the State of Israel and the States of Jordan, Syria and the UAR is a first step towards the achievement of a just peace in the Middle East, a step which must be reinforced by other measures to be adopted by the Organisation and complied with by the parties,
1. Urgently requests:
(a) Israel to withdraw all its forces from all the territories occupied by it as a result of the recent conflict;
(b) The parties in conflict to end the state of belligerency, to endeavour to establish conditions of co-existence based on good neighbourliness and to have recourse in all cases to the procedure for peaceful settlement indicated in the Charter of the United Nations;
2. Reaffirms its conviction that no stable international order can be based on the threat or use of force, and declares that the validity of the occupation or acquisition of territories brought about by such means should not be recognised;
3. Requests the Security Council to continue examining the situation in the Middle East with a sense of urgency, working directly with the parties and relying on the presence of the United Nations to:
(a) Carry out the provisions of operative paragraph 1 (a) above;
(b) Guarantee freedom of transit on the international waterways in the region;
(c) Achieve an appropriate and full solution of the problem of the refugees and guarantee the territorial inviolability and political independence of the States of the region, through measures including the establishment of demilitarised zones;
4. Reaffirms, as in earlier recommendations, the desirability of establishing an international regime for the City of Jerusalem to be considered by the General Assembly at its twenty-second session.
Arising out of the welter of geographical information which the Minister has given us, does his reference to newspaper articles, cartoons and such like, mean that he did not speak in favour of Israel's withdrawal, as reported?
I spoke and voted in in favour of Israel withdrawing from the territories occupied, and so did Afghanistan, Australia, Barbados——
Not again!
——Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo (Brazil), Congo (DR), Costa Rica, Denmark, Dahomey——
Are you sure about Dahomey?
——Ecuador, France, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Lesotho, Liberia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Syria, Togo, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
What about the Six Counties?
Might I be allowed to point out that the Minister has said more in the past ten minutes than he said in any of his Estimates for the past five years?
You do not like to hear it.
Would the Minister also indicate why when he was so long in New York, he did not condemn Nasser for the first aggression of demanding the withdrawal of the UN forces from the border?
What I want to know from the Deputy——
You are in the dock in the minds of the Irish people.
Wait for a second. It is almost impossible to discuss any subject of a serious nature here with this barracking that goes on.
You are not here often enough to know what is happening.
I want to put to the Deputy this question. Does he object to all these countries asking for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory they occupy? Answer that one.
I will answer this question. I object violently to the Minister for External Affairs in the name of Ireland not demanding a UN Resolution against Nasser for his first aggression in demanding the withdrawal of UN forces.
That was not the question. I voted for a Resolution——
You did not do your job in the name of Ireland.
——supported by the United States, Britain and all these other countries. Does the Deputy object to my voting for it?
I object to you misrepresenting the Irish position.
Silence gives consent.
Why discuss a speech when you should have objected?
Why would you not state your policy instead of asking questions?
Will the Parliamentary Secretary please desist?
This is the device when it is too awkward for the Minister for External Affairs.
The Parliamentary Secretary is telling us about a farrowing sow.
I intended to ask a supplementary question of the Minister for External Affairs. I could not get my question into the middle of the list of names the Minister read out. I wanted to know could the Minister give us an assurance that the representatives of all these other countries had the authority of their countries so to vote? Would the Minister indicate by what authority he sought to speak on behalf of this Parliament without consulting it?
Surely this does not arise?
This Parliament elected me as Minister for External Affairs.
Is that the end of the matter?
They elected me to represent this country in the international organisation to which we are accredited. If the Deputy disapproves —none of these petty questions—of anything I do, he has a right to put down a resolution calling for my resignation. But the Deputies there want to pretend that there is some difference between the Government's policy and their policy on these matters, but they do not put down a resolution on it.
Would the Minister indicate by what authority he spoke for the Irish people without the consent of the Dáil?
By the authority of the Irish people.
This is developing into a debate and I cannot allow it. I am calling No. 4.
Is the sow going to farrow again?
The Parliamentary Secretary has already read No. 4, Sir.
I know he has, but nobody heard him.
I heard every word.