Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the deployment of members of the Defence Forces to Syria. I am amazed that it happened in this manner and that there has been no comment. The Syrian conflict is perhaps the most vicious this century and we are asking members of the Defence Forces to go into an area in which there will be urban terrorist warfare.

I am astonished that it has hardly been commented on in this House, the other House or the media. I have been told that it has been passed by the Cabinet and that it is imminent. I ask the Leader to give Senators an opportunity before this House goes into recess to ask the Minister for Defence to come to explain the rationale for this deployment. I am concerned about the decision to send the finest Irish troops into such a deadly warzone. In the context of another issue that has been raised, every citizen of this country knows which party fumbled in the greasy till.