Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

We are not asking the Minister to slavishly follow any international organisation but to stand back, as Minister for Defence, and look at the effectiveness of our troops abroad. The reality is that countries like the Congo have been exploited and abused by western powers and colonialism for decades. No one is interested in them but French interests are being advanced in Chad and that gets support. There are UN missions we are involved in but we should not just accept them because they are UN missions. We must look at areas where conflicts have been running for decades, like the Middle East, which is going on since 1948 and there has been Irish involvement since 1958 in Golan Heights. There comes a time when the presence of UN peacekeepers becomes a facilitating mechanism for the continuation of conflict and does not deliver peace. That is why we must stand back and look at all of our missions to see how our troops can be more effectively deployed for the best reasons.

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