Professor Ray Murphy:

It was military action by the French and the British that precipitated the crisis.

Back to the Defence Forces, I think the average soldier joins for a variety of reasons, with many just looking for a job, but some looking for a job that provides some degree of adventure and something quite different. When they go on peacekeeping missions, many do not have the primary purpose to save humanity and to save the world. I am being very unprofessional in the way I say this, but many of them are just ordinary decent people who reflect the values of Irish society and the values that are embedded in the Defence Forces and which recent Chiefs of Staff and other members of the senior command have put great emphasis on because of weaknesses and deficiencies that have emerged. As an individual, I would hate to see Irish forces deployed to missions where they were embarking on any type of combat mission outside of a framework that was not restricted by the United Nations mandate and the United Nations Charter. Soldiers want to soldier, yes, but they do not want to be part of some major international conflict. They want to do something which is valuable for both Ireland and the world and they want an ordinary life in the simplest terms.

I have some personal interest in this regard. I actually have a son in the Defence Forces. He will really hate that I said this, but he and many of his colleagues just want to do a professional job and want to participate in UN peacekeeping because it is what the Irish Defence Forces have always done. It is an integral part of the identity of the Defence Forces and was critical to achieve success in terms of promotion. It was regarded as one of the criteria you would have to satisfy. It gives the personnel real-life experience working with the Poles or other nationalities and they come back in many cases quite transformed in terms of their political awareness of a situation. That was my personal experience as a very young officer when I went to the Middle East. It totally changed my political perspective on the conflict and the parties to the conflict. I think I would speak for most members of the Defence Forces when I say they want to stay within the realm of international law and they want to participate constructively in the defence of the State where and when that is necessary but also to be international actors bringing something positive to the world and to the United Nations, but not participating in combat-type operations.