Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I do not know what is the practice as regards the third issue raised by the Deputy, or whether we do that after six months. I will inquire and if there is no problem with it I will be happy to discuss the matter after six months.

As regards the deployment of troops, they will be in the general area of Blatt beside the village of Belasaki in the eastern sector, south of the Litani river. They will all be in the same place at the joint Irish-Finnish Camp Ida. They will be moving around providing protection details for Finnish engineers when they are doing construction work. They will also be providing protection details for Finnish troops when they are clearing unexploded ordnance. In addition, they will be undertaking other tasks assigned to them by the UNIFIL force commander, which could include security duty in other locations, escort duty and patrols. Ultimately, therefore, even though their primary duty is to protect the Finnish engineers, they are liable to be assigned to other duties by the force commander, which could include humanitarian work.

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