Seanad debates

Wednesday, 11 November 2020

Recognition of Irish Military Service at Jadotville in 1961: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of John McGahonJohn McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator O'Reilly, the Fine Gael spokesperson on defence, for allowing me to lead in this debate on behalf of our party. Before I get into the merits of this debate and why I believe we should have these medals awarded, I pay tribute to individuals, like Senator Craughwell and former Senator Gabrielle McFadden, who were lone voices in the wilderness for so long. They are now being joined by a chorus of voices, from all political parties and none, in both Houses of the Oireachtas. One need only search kildarestreet.comfor "Jadotville" to find a flurry of parliamentary questions, Commencement matter debates and a mention on the Order of Business by Senator Wall last week. I refer to what so many of us here in the last month have said, let alone what individuals have been doing on both sides of the House.

I also want to highlight what I, as a new Member of this House, have found to be the most refreshing aspect of this debate. It is that there is no political one-upmanship from anyone here. No one is trying to get out in front of another individual. Nobody is trying to get credit, or anything like that. Everybody is very much on the same page and we are all sharing information with each other that we get back from representations. We are all talking to each other. I have picked up the phone to Senators Craughwell and Wall more times in recent weeks than ever before. It is important to state that we are all on the same page on this issue.

That brings me to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, who as a former Minister of Defence had been engaged on this issue previously, as was his office. I thank him for that because I know he is genuine and sincere, and we saw that in his remarks today. We can all agree that the Minister wants to see some kind of successful conclusion to this matter. I also pay tribute to Commandant Leo Quinlan, the son of Pat Quinlan. Without his determination in recent years, I fear that this issue would have fallen by the wayside. It could have fallen into the annals of time and been forgotten about. I have had the pleasure of speaking with Commandant Quinlan on several occasions this week to increase my own understanding of what is a complex issue. We might not be discussing these issues at all today if it was not for Commandant Quinlan.

The Jadotville action is the biggest military engagement the Irish Army has ever faced against a foreign enemy since the foundation of the State. It has been likened to the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 and to the battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879 during the Zulu Wars. Can we imagine that a battle in which 155 Irish troops engaged is in the same league, historically speaking, as the Battle of the Alamo? There were only 155 Irish troops, and they are seen as being on that level of military engagement in the history of military conflict globally.

That resulted from Commandant Pat Quinlan being a remarkable tactician and strategist, and it is because of his ability that this battle is right up there in the annals of military history. The fact that only five Irish troops were wounded during the five-day siege is a testament to Commandant Pat Quinlan and how he valued the lives of the troops under his command. As Senator Craughwell explained to me earlier, Commandant Quinlan ensured that a field of fire was placed on enemy targets, rather than putting Irish troops in positions where the threat of injury or death was dramatically increased. He kept his soldiers safe and looked after them, and that is why only five of them were wounded in a five-day siege against an enemy force numbering 3,500 strong.

I believe that there are historical reasons why medals were not awarded in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. I am not here today to dwell on those historical reasons; that is for others to decide upon and it is in the past. I am focusing on the present and what we can do to try to bring a measure of justice to this debate. I want to be clear, and Senator Craughwell was even clearer about this, that awarding medals is not in the personal gift of the Minister. It would be wrong if that was the case, because then we would be bringing politicians into military affairs. That would be wrong, and it would be wrong for anybody to suggest otherwise, although nobody has. It is easy for that point to get lost in the emotion of the debate. It is not the role of the Minister, and it is not in his gift or ability, to award military medals.

What we can do, and what I think is simple enough to do, is request the Chief of Staff of the Army to convene a medals board, as has already been outlined. We should let that medals board examine the whole issue again, in light of new information that I have no doubt will be supplied when the expert group meets. If it is decided that there is nothing to be decided here, which I do not think they will, then that is fair enough because we will have asked for that medals board to be reconvened to examine this issue in greater detail. I acknowledge there are technicalities involved and stumbling blocks concerning Defence Forces' regulations. If we must amend them slightly so that we can look at something like this case of Jadotville, then let us do that. I believe the Minister is genuine in his desire to resolve this issue and we saw that in his opening statement. Several Members will be aware of the work that has been done by the Minister's office in recent weeks on this issue. I will not say that was done to bring a successful conclusion, but to try to move the matter forward as much as possible. I cannot speak for other Members but I would like to think we are all grateful for that, especially when so many of us have been raising this issue in recent weeks, or years in the case of Senator Craughwell and others.

I am a firm believer that it is never too late to do the right thing, no matter what the issue is in life. It is never too late, whether something happened ten years ago, 20 years ago or, in this case, on the 60th anniversary, which will fall in early September. If we allow this debate to continue and rumble on over the next year or two, we will end up in a situation where more of the surviving eight veterans will, sadly, have passed away. We will then look back at this moment and ask ourselves how foolish we were to not try and fix this issue now. There is no point trying to do that after these people have passed away by making awards posthumously. That is pointless.

When we think about it, it is amazing that these surviving men were just boys when they came under enemy fire in sub-Saharan Africa. There were only boys aged 15 or 16 years old. They survived, however, and they need to be recognised. I am thankful the Minister has come to the House with a clear outline of what he intends to do. He has not come here, paid us lip service and walked out. He came here with a clear and definitive plan concerning how he wants to make progress on this issue. My only request is for the Minister to set very clear time limits, of which every Member is aware, regarding when the expert group will report back to the Chief of Staff and when he will then report back to the Minister regarding any potential decisions. A clear timeframe would calm many of the fears among the military community and many Members of the Oireachtas.

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