Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was not meant to provide a political solution. The mandate is a Chapter Six peace observation role where the UN operates within a 75 km long strip, with Mount Hermon at the northern end, down along the Golan Heights. The UN had a string of posts manned by peacekeepers who were observing the adherence to an armistice and peace plan between two countries and it was hugely successful.

The situation on the ground, as everybody has acknowledged, has dramatically changed over the past number of months and, in particular, in the past number of weeks and the mission has responded to that by relocating and redeploying troops to safer locations out of what was previously a demilitarised area but which has now become part of the civil war in Syria. The troops are now located west of an alpha line which the Israelis control where there were a series of UN posts already because the mission was about observing the Israeli side as well as the Syrian side. Undoubtedly, the ability of the mission to fulfil its mandate, for the moment, is compromised. Notwithstanding that, the judgment I had to make, having spoken to various ambassadors of countries which are interested and have a stake in ensuring stability in the Middle East, was whether we are better off having a UN presence in that region - in a relatively safe zone, which the troops are in now - in order to try to encourage and deliver stability because the last thing the Middle East needs now is a war between Syria and Israel, or whether we pull out and allow the mission to collapse. I asked the UN for three things, the first of which was the restructuring of the mission. I also asked that the UN adopt an open mind towards a re-evaluation of the equipment available to the troops to make sure they can protect themselves and that the UN Security Council would make a very strong and clear statement to that effect. The UN agreed to all of that and as a result, I believe that Ireland should be committed to this mission because it is much safer now than it has been in recent weeks because of the change and redeployment that has already happened. The redeployment is not still under discussion but has already happened. Our troops are well trained and are capable of dealing with potential difficulties but they are now unlikely to encounter such for the foreseeable future because I do not envisage a significant UN presence on the Syrian side of that alpha line any time soon. The only UN troops on the Syrian side of the alpha line are Nepalese troops on Mount Hermon. Their posts are at high altitude and will soon be covered in snow. Furthermore, there is no appetite for a civil war in that part of the Golan Heights.

Commentators are talking about ISIL and Islamic State and US bombing in Syria. It has been made clear to me that the rebel forces and militia in the Golan Heights are not ISIL or Islamic State, but what is called the al-Nusra Front, which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda. They have different objectives and we are unlikely to see any bombing happening in that place.

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