Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy mentioned evacuations. UNIFIL will make a decision on that, although we should remember that this is a very difficult scenario. UNIFIL is there to keep the peace - not to flee at the first moment of trouble. That is the challenge. We have had previous episodes globally that led to horrors when there was either a premature or unplanned evacuation. I am conscious that modern warfare is of far greater severity and intensity today that it would have been even five or ten years ago. That is something I am conscious of. We think of the levelling of Syria, including Aleppo, and the same kind of war in Gaza where the place was levelled. It was the same in Ukraine where civilian and energy infrastructure was destroyed. Two thousand pound bombs have been dropped in Gaza, which is a small area the size of County Louth or thereabouts. It is horrific to contemplate the impact of that on civilians. While the presence of UNIFIL is a significant deterrent, we will keep that under very careful review and, again, work with colleagues. You have to plan for every scenario but fundamentally peacekeeping troops are there to keep the peace and to prevent outbreaks of war. Ultimately, UNIFIL has to make a call on those issues.

In terms of the reserve forces, one member of the Reserve Defence Force has been deployed on a voluntary basis in support of the Permanent Defence Force. There is a lot of keenness to participate. There is no reluctance on behalf of members of the Defence Forces to participate overseas generally speaking. When I was out there, it was very heartening to hear members of our Defence Forces speak about the challenges.

As a layperson, I would have said it must be more challenging now and it is because of rockets being fired across and over them and gunfire not far away. In fact, it can be very close at times. They will say very uniformly that while they find it challenging, this is what they were trained for and the idea of their training being put into practice in a very real way. I was heartened by their response to what is a much more difficult scenario than any recent battalion has experienced.