During my 21 years service as an Army officer, I partook in peacekeeping duties with the United Nations. My colleagues and I worked with the vital knowledge that the Irish people supported us totally and were proud of the work we did. We never doubted that and we never felt that the people, by debating neutrality, peacekeeping and the role of the Defence Forces, were undermining us. Since then I have never felt that the people were neutral in the face of genocide and humanitarian outrages in the Balkans, Africa and East Timor.