Dr. Edward Burke:

We should be careful about assuming that the UN Security Council always gets it right in respect of how it mandates and organises UN-sanctioned UN forces. For example, in October 2003, UN Security Council Resolution 1511 mandated the Multi-National Force-Iraq. Multi-National Force-Iraq was a UN-mandated mission. It changed the coalition of the willing, if you wish. It changed the highly controversial illegal invasion of Iraq into Multinational Force-Iraq, and many European countries had major problems with that because they still regarded it as essentially an occupation. Even though the Security Council had now given permission for this to go ahead, Ireland looked at that and said “No, that is not something we wish to contribute to”. That was very sensible and wise. It would not take much legal advice in this country, thinking about international humanitarian law and looking at the rules of engagement that were being practised by the United States, for example, that were highly controversial at the time, to say we do not want part of that. The UN said “Yes, go ahead” and Ireland said it was not sending a contingent. That is what this country and countries like Sweden do well. Many European countries do it well. They look at their international humanitarian law and they look at the law of armed conflict obligations. We understand that very well in this country and we make decisions about where to send contingencies, including to UN-mandated missions. That avoids what Éamon de Valera feared, which is that there would be an automatic going to war for the United Nations once the Security Council said "Yes". We do not do that, and I think we should continue in that line.

I do not think a United Nations Security Council resolution will necessarily mean that you comply with IHL or LOAC - the law of armed conflict. You have to look at it, use your legal expertise and talk to the International Commission of Jurists and the International Court of Justice, which actually warned of a war of aggression in respect of the invasion of Iraq. Countries like Ireland took that very seriously. Our mandate on the Security Council finished in 2002. We had mandated the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, ISAF. Ireland voted for ISAF during our time on the Security Council. We mandated that. However, we took legal advice, and Iraq was something we did not want to contribute to. That was a very good decision and I think we are capable of making those decisions.