I am greateful to Deputy Sherlock for having given way to me.
Deputies will have heard with shock and revulsion of the cold-blooded murder of three Irish soldiers serving with the United Nations Interim Force in the Lebanon. The soldiers who died were Corporal Gregory Morrow, Private Peter Burke and Private Thomas Murphy, all from Dublin. A fourth soldier, who is from Belfast, is suffering from severe shock and is being treated in hospital.
Despite our best endeavours we have as yet been unable to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident. Every effort to do so is being pursued by the United Nations on the spot.
From such information as has come to hand so far it appears that the four soldiers were manning a checkpoint at Tibnin Bridge within the Irish contingent's sector of operations when they were attacked by men armed with automatic weapons. It appears that the three men were killed almost instantly. We are informed that the fourth man managed to send a radio message to Irish headquarters at Tibnin. When this message was received a patrol was sent out immediately but the incident was over by the time the patrol arrived.
Since the Irish troops went to the Lebanon 16 of our men have lost their lives there in the course of duty. Can there be any greater evidence of the commitment of this small nation to the cause of world peace and the role of the United Nations than the sacrifice of these young lives in a distant land? These attacks on our troops inevitably raise the question of whether our contingent should continue in its role as part of UNIFIL. This question was considered recently by the Government when the question of the extension of the mandate came up. The decision of the Government was that Ireland should continue to supply troops to the force. This decision was strongly influenced by the repeated requests of the Secretary General of the United Notions, voiced most recently when the Minister for Foreign Affairs visited New York to address the United Nations General Assembly in September. The necessity for the continued presence of the force was again emphasised by President Gemayel of Lebanon in talks which he had last week with the Minister for the Environment at Shannon Airport. On that occasion President Gemayel expressed his appreciation of the contribution which Irish Forces had made to peace and stability in the area. In the course of conversations which the Minister for Defence had last week with the Force Commander, General Callaghan stressed that the local population regarded it as essential that UNIFIL should continue to serve in the Lebanon because of the stability and protection it provided in its area of operations.
As Deputies will be aware, the mandate for the continued presence of the force in the Lebanon was renewed recently for three months ending on 19 January next. It is clear that UNIFIL has not received the full co-operation of all the parties in the area in the discharge of its mandate, which is broadly to lessen instability in the area in the interests of international peace and security and to help the Government in the Lebanon to restore its effective authority. The nature of the mandate and related questions will have to be reviewed before next January.
In conclusion, I am sure that all Members of the House will wish to join with me in expressing sympathy with the bereaved families and relatives of those who died and in wishing the surviving member of the checkpoint party a full and speedy recovery. In their grief we hope it will be some consolation to those families that their men died nobly in the cause of world peace.
