Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I have no plans to visit Irish troops serving overseas on St. Patrick's Day. However, the general officers commanding the home brigades for our missions in Liberia, Lebanon and Kosovo, the main missions in which we have troops deployed, will visit the troops in these missions on St. Patrick's Day, as is the norm and tradition.

As Deputies will be aware, I recently returned from visiting Irish personnel of the 34th Infantry Group serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL. The primary purpose of my visit was to see at first hand the work of members of the Defence Forces serving with UNIFIL and convey to them, on behalf of the Government and the people, the deep appreciation felt regarding the outstanding manner in which they perform their duties in this very challenging mission.

My visit to Lebanon was arranged to coincide as near as practicable with the St. Patrick's Day festival. I paid a similar visit to personnel serving with the United Nations mission in Liberia at the same time last year. Such visits serve to boost the morale of Defence Forces personnel serving abroad, especially at the time of our national day celebrations.

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