Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Where there is a will there is a way. There is a sad irony in the fact that the battalion that followed the 35th and went out to the Congo received 25 medals while the 35th, to this day, has received none. The men of course welcome the Minister of State's actions and are glad of some recognition but given the scale of the siege and this battalion's monumental bravery against the odds, this is not enough. We need to find a way in which to recognise them appropriately.

A key part in the turnaround has been Rose Doyle's excellent book. The film, "The Siege of Jadotville", has also helped to rewrite history as it should have been. There is a view that one of the reasons the soldiers involved were not appropriately rewarded was to protect the reputations of the likes of Frank Aiken and Conor Cruise O'Brien, who might not have had as good a history of this experience as the men at the front. Will the Minister of State look at this again?

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