I remember, as a very young girl in 1958, the first occasion our Defence Forces went overseas. On that occasion quite a contingent went from Athlone and the western command. Usually, the overseas contingents are drawn from the various commands, but on this occasion it is centred on the western command. Therefore, the personnel will know one another very well. That will show its worth in a place like Liberia, which will be completely different from other peacekeeping missions. The earlier missions in the Congo and the later ones in Cyprus and the Lebanon became familiar to us. Indeed, the towns in those countries and their names were on the lips of young children as they played around Athlone as their fathers, uncles or brothers were abroad and they were cognisant of where they were and what they were doing. Sadly, of course, brave lives were lost. When one reads that we have to be absolutely sure, as the Minister touched on in his speech, that our personnel are going to perfectly safe environments, we need to realise that if they were perfectly safe environments they would not have to go. The purpose is to render them safer, in partnership with others, and in so doing to remove dangers, but it is a dangerous situation for anybody who goes to serve overseas. One is often in a very hostile climate and a strange land. One has to get on with the people one is hoping to help and with one's fellow defence personnel in one's own force and in the forces one is joining. It requires great skill and professionalism, particularly the skills of interaction with other people, which is a necessary trait in those who travel overseas on peacekeeping duties. In many cases, the Irish Defence Forces who go overseas show terrific skills of interaction in extending friendship in very ordinary ways to children, older people and the people of the villages and towns in which they are based.