Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of the situation in the Middle East, particularly as it pertains to our peace-keeping troops in south Lebanon. I commend the performance and the professionalism of our troops in and around outpost 652 over the last number of days. I shudder to think what would have occurred if our troops had given in to the intimidation and abandoned their position. It would have had a detrimental, domino effect across the entire blue line, with soldiers at the other two-dozen-odd posts looking over their shoulders. What occurred was the opposite, with the actions of our troops stiffening the resolve of the other posts and it reinforced the fact that there will be no more Srebenicas, not on our watch at least. They say that history can turn on the smallest of hinges and perhaps such a hinge is what occurred over the last few days at that outpost. I commend everyone involved in the operation.

I want to focus on the wider issue of the United Nations Interim force in Lebanon, UNIFIL and its viability. There has been some loose talk recently, some of it well intentioned, saying that UNIFIL should not be there and that we should somehow withdraw the 10,000 troops from 50 different nations at the stroke of a pen. I want to make three points about this. I suspect the Tánaiste probably agrees with me anyway. If there had been a UNIFIL-type buffer zone between Gaza and southern Israel 12 months ago, would the attack by Hamas have been allowed to take place? I suggest that it would have been highly unlikely. Even if the attack had happened, would the indiscriminate carpet bombing of Gaza have occurred if there had been a UNIFIL buffer zone in place on the Gaza border? This is also highly unlikely. I emphasise the fact that the attack by Hamas came from an area where there were no UNIFIL troops, not from an area where there were UNIFIL troops. I want to hammer home those points that, yes, we accept the imperfections of UNIFIL but for those people who do not appreciate the presence of UNIFIL troops, I can assure them that they will certainly not appreciate their absence if they are withdrawn.

I agree that the safety and security of our troops is our top priority and paramount in this. I want to raise two issues that are of secondary importance but are still important. The first is the logistical situation. Can the Tánaiste provide reassurance to the House that our troops have adequate supplies of water and food to sit this event out? Second, there is a planned, scheduled rotation in around five or six weeks' time where some 300 fresh troops from Ireland will be heading out to relieve the 300 battle-hardened troops there now. Does the Tánaiste envisage that this rotation will occur as planned, pending the operational situation?

See this speech in context