6 days ago
TD who served with Unifil warns end of UN Lebanon mandate would be 'catastrophic'
A TD who served as a peacekeeper in Lebanon has warned that a threatened discontinuation of our Unifil mandate would have a 'catastrophic' impact on Ireland's reputation.
It comes amid growing concern in Government that the UN's peacekeeping operation in southern Lebanon, which Ireland has been involved in since 1978, may not have its mandate renewed next month.
Recounting her 'eye-opening' experience with the Irish Defence Forces in Lebanon, Carlow-Kilkenny TD Catherine Callaghan said: 'The region is so volatile, can you imagine the impact it will have on the men, women, and children who call Lebanon their home and who, for generations, have felt protected and reassured by the UN presence?'
Carlow-Kilkenny TD Catherine Callaghan said: 'If the Unifil mandate is not renewed in eight weeks' time, Ireland will have to leave Lebanon, but other nations can stay under Chapter 8 of the UN Charter. This would have a catastrophic effect on Ireland's peacekeeping reputation.'
More than 340 Irish peacekeepers are currently deployed to Lebanon, but there are concerns that the US will move to effectively end or scale back the operation through reduced funding when the Unifil, or United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, mandate comes up for renewal on August 31.
'If the Unifil mandate is not renewed in eight weeks' time, Ireland will have to leave Lebanon, but other nations can stay under Chapter 8 of the UN Charter,' Ms Callaghan said.
'This would have a catastrophic effect on Ireland's peacekeeping reputation.'
The Fine Gael politician, who was a member of the air corps, also warned that current members of the Defence Forces are now reluctant to wear uniform outside of barracks.
'Unfortunately, what has been the case in the last while anyway, is that the majority of the press that the Defence Forces has received has been in a negative,' she said, citing a number of high-profile court cases.
'From speaking to serving members, they have got out of the habit of wearing their uniform if they're going downtown, they wouldn't want to be recognised.'
Tánaiste Simon Harris talking to Irish Defence Forces troops serving on the Unifil peacekeeping mission during his visit to Camp Shamrock near the Israel-Lebanon border in March of this year. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
Calling for a 'day of appreciation', Ms Callaghan added that 'there's probably an educational body of work that could be done to inform people, more generally, of the important role of Defence Forces'.
'It will always have a special place in my heart for the way that it helped me as an individual, and then as well, for the experiences that I had with my colleagues,' she said.
Detailing her own tour of Lebanon, she said Defence Forces members there were 'always very aware of the risk to your security', but that there was a 'real camaraderie' between the troops.
'We were way up in the valleys and the hills of southern Lebanon. You're very far removed from towns and cities. Beirut is completely different to where we were stationed. So it's really rural.
'You're acutely aware that there are people that you're there to protect, that if the UN forces, if Unifil was not there in Lebanon, that life would be much more challenging for the citizens of Lebanon.'
