Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

What role do the Irish troops in Afghanistan have? They are few in number but while the rights or wrongs of the current situation are debatable, and, like Deputy Higgins, I had reservations at the time, as I did about the invasion of Iraq, we must deal with the situation and it would be irresponsible to fail to respond to the demands of officers in the field in Afghanistan regarding additional troops. While I do not advocate sending more troops to Afghanistan, we should have a clear position on this in the European context. We have something to offer in terms of the roles we have played in Chad, Lebanon and other countries. We have a distinct role to play and Irish troops have always been successful in that area.

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