Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am a little concerned at what is being proposed. Force commanders, whether they are on a UN mission, EU mission or any other mission that has been jointly agreed, are constrained by the criteria set out in the mission. If, by some manner or means, we have a force commander who runs wild and decides to undertake something that was not in the mandate, then it falls to the senior Irish officer in the mission to get on to the Department and say, "Look, we are being ordered to do something here." Let us say there is a force commander in UNIFIL who orders an attack. That is not the role of such a mission nor the purpose of such a force. We have a senior liaison officer in place who is going to put a stop to it.

As the Minister said, we have delegated authority since the late 1950s to force commanders. The latter must have manoeuvrability and be able to move a company from point A to point B where there is a problem. If he or she has to come back seeking permission to do it every time and there is a requirement to go back to the Oireachtas every eight months to get authority, that will prolong every mission. As the Minister said, we are rotating troops every six months, delegation goes out at that stage and the force commander has limited command over Irish troops. He or she does not have carte blancheto do whatever he or she wants. The Minister has pointed out that when the most recent Irish force commander in the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon had control over other troops there - her name slips my mind; I am having a senior moment - their countries retained the right to say "No" at any given stage. I am a little concerned about this proposal given that we do not have the facility for a force commander to run rogue.