Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I did not realise that and I thank the Senator for bringing it to my attention. Since Ireland began to participate in overseas missions in the 1950s, the general authority to send troops was always assumed. For example, a number of observers were dispatched to the Middle East in 1958. No legislation was in place and they were dispatched on the basis that everybody assumed it was legal to do so.

When the first armed overseas mission was undertaken as part of a peacekeeping operation in the Congo in the early 1960s, the Government decided to pass legislation to set out the circumstances and procedures for sending troops abroad on armed peacekeeping missions. The legislation did not cover other personnel such as observers or those attending seminars, undergoing training or participating in ceremonial duties. I suspect the reason the legislation did not deal with them specifically is it was assumed all activities were legal. There is a danger it could be argued that because the 1960s legislation laid down the procedures for sending troops overseas, it could not be applied to all personnel overseas and, therefore, there was no authority to send troops overseas other than on an armed mission. The Attorney General thinks the argument would not succeed but that does not prevent it from being raised. The provision is being included for the avoidance of doubt and to head off anybody who may make that argument in court.