Vol. 478 No. 3
159 Mr. M. Ahern asked the Minister for Defence the reason only executive officers of the Naval Services have served as United Nations Truce Supervisor Observers in the Middle East; the reason other officers of the Naval Service have not been chosen to serve in that supervisory capacity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11112/97]
Naval Service officers from all branches of the service have served and continue to serve both in UNIFIL and with many UN Observer Missions. Naval command must be conscious of an officer's suitability, experience, length of service, courses completed and overall career structure prior to nominating such an officer for overseas service.
In the case of Naval Service nominations for UNTSO, ship command has always been deemed to be an additional desirable criteria. Only officers of the executive branch are qualified to take command of a State ship at sea, and as such, only officers from this branch have received nominations for UNTSO to date. It should also be stressed that very few Naval Service officers have served with UNTSO — only seven since 1983.
