Mr. Declan Power:

It very much depends. These things depend on the nature of the mission and the status of forces agreement, for example, if it is a UN contingent when they are deployed. A simple example from more recent times might be the UNDOF mission in Syria. The Irish took part in that and were the quick reaction force. Their job was to provide for force protection for that entity. The Deputy may remember that, in 2014, I think, that changed radically when Filipino and other peacekeepers were virtually held hostage in their own camps and the Irish had to effect a rescue operation. Thankfully that was done with a mixture of diplomacy and show of force. It could have been very ugly. I would put it down to our troops' experience in that region. It is an example of how a lightly armed peacekeeping force can suddenly find itself in a limited war fighting situation. The same thing happened in Lebanon in 1980 in what became known as the battle of At Tiri that led to the awards of four medals of gallantry for Irish personnel. A lightly armed peacekeeping force can often find itself having to fight for its life.