Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is from the veterans generally. We do not do military honours. We let our people down all of the time. In 1968, the then Chief of Staff wrote to the Minister for Defence and pointed out that we cannot give distinguished service medals and medals for gallantry to everybody. He said that they could not award medals to those killed in the Niemba ambush because it might look as if it was a handout and might bring fresh criticisms of how Ireland's operations in the Congo were conducted. I believe the Niemba guys who got killed got the military star in 1998, 38 years after they were killed. The families got the military star. Jadotville remains a thorn in the side of everybody. The independent review group report is not accepted by anybody. Billy Kedian lies in a grave four plots away from a fellow county-man who has a US naval ship named after him. Kedian lost his life saving his colleagues in the Lebanon and there are countless other soldiers.