From next November, Ireland will take on the role of lead nation of the joint Irish and Finnish forces IRISHFIN for UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon. This new Dublin international engagement will require the use of an additional 180 members of the Defense Forces supported by all the equipment necessary for the implementation and completion of the assignments, including the dispatch of vehicles.
The departure of the ship MV Bonacieux from the port of Dublin marked the start-up of logistics operations last week, which will end once they reach Lebanon.
The 29.1 article of the Irish Constitution recalls that "Ireland affirms its" devotion "to the ideal of peace and cooperation between nations based on justice and international morality". The Irish commitment in international missions is its practical implementation.
Ireland has been a member of the United Nations since 1955 and its Defense Forces have had a continuous presence in peacekeeping operations since 1958, mainly in the Middle East, with a considerable price in terms of human lives: there are 85 soldiers who they lost their lives in peace missions. We recall the effectiveness of the Irish commands in Cyprus (UNFICYP), on the Syria-Israel borders (UNDOF), in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in Liberia (UNMIL), in Chad in 2008-2009 and at the Multi National Task Force Center in Kosovo. (KFOR) in 2007.
In May of 2016, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Major General Michael Beary as commander of the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, succeeding General Luciano Portolano of the Italian Army.
An infantry officer since 1975, Beary has held important command positions in military training in Ireland such as those at Military Intelligence College at the Joint Forces Operations Command (DFHQ) and at the Defense Forces Training Center (DFTC). His presence abroad has seen him engaged in operational theaters in Kuwait and Iraq, in the UN mission UNIKOM, and in Bosnia (UNPROFOR).
The Dublin government decides on a case-by-case basis whether, when and how to use the personnel of the defense forces. The operational experience gained by Ireland in all these years remains a solid starting point for facing any kind of future challenge.
(photo: Defense Force)
