Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach is the Minister for Defence, and the programme for Government commits the Government to the improvement of the welfare of our military. Today, 119 members of the 57th Infantry Group who were due to arrive home in Dublin today are stuck in Syria. They have worked on the Golan Heights for the past six months and have their own tales to tell about their equipment and so on. These people were due home today to their families, many of whom have paid for holidays. They are now told that because of an administrative error in the paperwork, which did not allow them to transit Lebanon, they will be stuck in Syria for another two weeks. The Department of Defence is blaming the Army. The Army is blaming the Department of Defence. How could it be, when the beginning and end of this deployment was known, that the proper paperwork could not be done to ensure these people who have served the State so well could not be brought home to their families in time?

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