I propose to take Questions Nos. 41, 79 and 144 together.
Following the death of Private William Kedian and the wounding of Private Ronald Rushe and Private Darren Clarke on 31 May 1999 while serving with the 85th Irish Battalion in Lebanon, a report was forwarded immediately by UNIFIL headquarters to United Nations headquarters, New York. I refer the Deputy to replies which I gave to questions in the House on 30 June 1999 when I outlined the protests lodged with the Israeli authorities following the incident. A UNIFIL headquarters board of inquiry and an Irish contingent board of inquiry were established to investigate and report on the circumstances surrounding the death of Private William Kedian and the wounding of Private Ronald Rushe and Private Darren Clarke. The results of these inquiries, which have not yet been released, are awaited.
As the House will be aware, I visited the area on 20-22 June 1999 in order to see for myself the situation on the ground and, more importantly, to raise the seriousness of the prevailing security situation in the UNIFIL area of operation with both the Israeli and Lebanese authorities and to seek assurances that the reckless shelling of Irishbatt positions by the Israeli Defence Forces-De Facto Forces which appeared, undoubtedly, to have led to the death of Private Kedian would not recur. During the course of my visit, I met the Israeli Minister of Defence and the Lebanese Minister of Defence, the latter in relation to ongoing hostile activity by the armed elements, Hizbollah. I sought assurances from both that there would not be a recurrence of the recent serious shelling incidents as well as other hostile activity. I indicated to both sides that, while Ireland is committed to the UNIFIL mission, should there not be a cessation of such incidents, serious consideration would be given to the withdrawal of the Irish contingent.
In the weeks following the death of Private Kedian, while there was a general decrease in the number of firings close to Irish positions, there were a number of further serious incidents, including the dropping of a bomb from an Israeli air force jet several hundred metres from an Irish position as well as a direct mortar hit within an Irishbatt post. In the latter incident, it was most fortunate that there was no loss of life.
Between 1 January and 30 September 1999, 102 firings at or close to Irish UNIFIL positions have been recorded, the bulk of which were carried out by the Israeli Defence Forces-De Facto Forces. A total of 225 other incidents were recorded in this period. The situation in the UNIFIL area of operations has continued to remain tense. I can bear witness to this fact from my visits to UNIFIL between 20 and 22 June and my more recent visit between 20 and 24 September 1999.