Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join with the best wishes to Mary as she moves on to the next stage of her life.

On 8 November 1960 an ambush took place in Niemba in the Congo. On this day that same year the bodies of the troopers killed in that ambush were brought home to Ireland. I want to read their names into the record: Lieutenant Kevin Gleeson, 2nd Field Engineer Company; Sergeant Hugh F. Gaynor, 2nd Motor Squadron; Corporal Liam Dougan, 5th Infantry Battalion; Corporal Peter Kelly, 5th Infantry Battalion; Private Matthew Farrell, 2nd Hospital Company; Trooper Thomas Fennell, 2nd Motor Squadron; Private Gerard Killeen, CTD; Private Michael McGuinn, 2nd Field Engineer Company; and Trooper Anthony Brown MMG, 2nd Motor Squadron. I remember the day as if it were yesterday. The bodies of those men were brought along O'Connell Street after mass in the Pro Cathedral under Archbishop McQuaid. They were brought to Glasnevin Cemetery to be buried.

It is telling that many years later, in 1968, the then Chief of Staff wrote to the then Minister for Defence saying the Niemba case should not be reopened for it may open up questions with respect to the command and control that existed among the Irish troops in the Congo at that time. It is my view that this letter from the then Chief of Staff set in place what is now the reluctance on the part of our Defence Forces to honour brave men who died. It is rather sad. The Military Star was awarded in 1998, 38 years after the action, to give the soldiers in Niemba their recognition. I want to put their names and the action they were involved in on the record today.

For the few seconds I have left I want to speak about diabetes. I am a diabetic and diabetes needs more input. We are looking for a comprehensive national diabetes strategy to codify a direct policy through enhanced provision of diabetes care in the HSE. Diabetes is a killer. If it is not monitored a person's health can deteriorate very quickly. We need to see better outcomes for people who are diabetics. We need a national diabetic patient register. I will pass on an email I have received to the Leader and I ask her to bring it to the attention of the Minister for Health and ask him to consider the proposals that are laid out in it. Diabetes kills many people and brings with it many other complications.