Dr. Cathal Berry:

To answer the Senator's question, for all missions between 1946 and 1955, Ireland's involvement was vetoed due to the Russian veto. The Russian, or the Soviet veto I should say more accurately, did not just prevent Ireland participating in missions; it prevented Ireland from even being a member of the United Nations. Any mission that occurred between 1946 and 1955 was vetoed from Ireland's perspective and we could not participate.

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for his very thoughtful contributions over the past few weeks. They have been excellent. To answer his questions about safeguarding, one layer of safeguarding that has yet to be mentioned is the quality of our military commanders. Military commanders in Ireland will only obey lawful orders. If an order is given by the government of the day that it is illegal, then the military will not obey it. Their loyalty is to the Constitution and the law, not to the government of the day.