Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I am proud to speak on this motion put forward by the Minister for Defence and, in so doing, to pick up on some of the points that have been made in the House during the debate.

I come from an Army town, with the headquarters of the Western Command across the River Shannon. The proposed mission is a Western Brigade mission. It is important that we mark this fact. Troops from Athlone, Galway, Longford, Mullingar and Donegal will be going, along with some troops from other areas. It is essentially a Western Brigade mission. In my town and county we are very proud of the men and women who have gone abroad on other missions.

Although Deputy Creighton has left, I must point out that there is no such thing as a safe mission. The idea that one mission is safer than another is ridiculous. If one goes abroad to fight or, as we are doing, to keep the peace, one does not believe one is going on a sunshine holiday. I was reminded sharply of what happened in the Congo during a graveyard commemoration last summer for some of the people who had been lost there. We can only think back to that; it was surely the most perilous mission of all. However, every command is perilous and nobody who goes on a mission thinks it is easier than Cyprus, the Lebanon or Liberia.

The Army is not imbued with those kinds of spirits or feelings. They are imbued with spirit for going where they are sent as part of their mission statement when they enlisted in the Army. The troops and officers on this mission know that they are going on a perilous journey. The journey will be simple enough, but the operations of the troops will be fraught with danger. How could it not be so, working in an area of that size? I was amazed that the area is the size of France, Spain and Germany combined.

They are going to Chad under the triple-lock mechanism, an enormous safeguard for us under which the Europe Union, the United Nations and our Parliament give permission. That is as it should be. They are our troops who are fighting for our country and enlisted in our Army.

Of course it is a humanitarian mission. I was taken by the enormous perils which the people who have come into the camps are undergoing and I do not know how they are able to manage their daily lives. I commend the fact that the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, the Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Deputy Tom Kitt, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, went separately to see what the terrain and the circumstances would be like and to know what we were taking on and going into. Likewise, I commend the group of women headed by former President Mary Robinson who went there and reported on what the women told them. The women have gone from one difficult situation to another extremely difficult one in camp there and the Army will be fully stretched in dealing with the aspect of their mission on this occasion.

We all have approved of Lieutenant General Pat T. Nash and I wish him well as he sallies forth with his troops to do his duty. For a country the size of Ireland with our troop capacity, which is not enormous, it is amazing — the Minister and I had a brief conversation about this previously — that we are able to go with such vigour and enthusiasm to such dangerous spots around the world to take charge of a mission to keep the peace, which is what it is all about, and to care for the dispossessed.

There is sure and firm evidence of many other missions which established great friendships. There are people still visiting Athlone as a result of friendships made in Cyprus, in the main, by our soldiers who went there on difficult missions. I am sure the friendships will endure.

I note that the advance force departs in December, but it will be January when the main mission departs. Lest we think that they will have a less perilous time than the time before, it is not at all like that. I deal in the main with many women and while I understand from the Minister that there will be women Army personnel taking part in this mission, in many instances it is the mothers, wives, sweethearts, sisters and daughters of the male personnel involved who will bear the burden of worry, who will scan the news for every word from eastern Chad and read the newspapers for everything they can glean from them about Chad, and who never thought that they would find themselves in these circumstances.

Due to the work of Army personnel, we now are acquainted with places with which we never would have become acquainted previously. Liberia and Chad are two of those exotic sounding places news of which we would not have bothered listening to, except that we now know that our troops are going there or have been there, and have acquitted themselves in such a fine fashion.

I am not speaking in terms of fairy tales and Pollyanna. I know what I am talking about as I was born, brought up and reared in the town of Athlone with many of the sons and daughters of those who have been abroad. The town is proud of our forces. We are proud of the Western Brigade. We are very proud that Athlone is the headquarters of what was the Western Command, now the Western Brigade.

People ask why Athlone was picked to be the Western Brigade headquarters. That is the way history laid it out. Custume Barracks is across the River Shannon. The Minister, Deputy O'Dea, is an honoured guest whenever he comes to our town and we hope that prior to this deployment he will pay us a further visit, perhaps to say farewell to them.

I am very much in favour of the motion. I am conscious of the dangers our troops will face. At the same time, I am proud of what Irish troops from a peace-living and peacekeeping country have done over the years in wishing to ensure that they can spread their peace and humanitarian message into the strife-torn country of eastern Chad. I pay tribute to those who lost their lives over the years or were injured in various other missions in which the Irish forces were deployed.

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