The Dáil will decide today whether to accept a proposal from the Minister of Defence, Mr Smith, on the deployment of nearly 500 Irish troops to Liberia on United Nations peacekeeping duties.
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UN soldiers inspect arms at Roberts InternationalAirport, Liberia
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It is planned the soldiers, who will join the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), will be taken out in three parties, on December 2nd/9th and 16th, though a construction team will travel before the end of the month.
In a Dáil reply, the Minister for Defence said the Irish motorised infantry battalion would be 430 strong.
The majority of the volunteers for the mission - one of the toughest ever undertaken by the Defence Forces - are coming from the Western Brigade, although there are still up to 20 vacancies left.
Rigorous medical tests have been carried out on the volunteers, military sources say, while privates over the age of 40 and officers over the age of 50 have not been considered for the six-month tours of duty.
Just 4,500 of the promised 15,000 United Nations troops have reached the trouble-hit country.
So far, UNMIL has managed to secure the country's capital, Monrovia, but the countryside remains in crisis.