PDFORRA says safety of troops must come first

The Minister for Defence should put troop safety ahead of international political pressure when sanctioning Irish involvement in overseas military operations, according to the Defence Forces representative association PDFORRA.

Mr Gerry Rooney, its general secretary, said at PDFORRA's annual conference in Waterford yesterday while the international community was keen to see Irish involvement in missions in Iraq and Liberia, the decision to send troops should only be taken after thorough risk-assessment.

His caution came on the same day the LE Niamh set sail from Cork for Liberia. The vessel, under the command of Lieut Cmdr Jim Shalloo, is carrying a reconnaissance group which will assess conditions in the west African country in advance of 430 Irish troops being sent as a mobile reserve battalion in support of the UN mission there.

Mr Rooney warned that the operation in Liberia would be the "toughest ever" undertaken by Irish troops. "We have a situation there where law and order has broken down. Parts of the country are under militia control and there have been some savage atrocities.

"The country is also ravaged by disease, malaria is a very big issue. In that regard it will certainly be on a par with the missions to East Timor, but in Liberia the troops will have to deal with the fact that the social and political system has completely disintegrated."

The conditions there and the security threat underlined the need for caution."We merely ask that irrespective of international desires to have Irish participation, we continue to put risk- assessment at the very top of our agenda when making decisions to participate overseas."

The Minister, Mr Smith, told reporters at the conference that there were few UN-mandated missions where risk was not involved. "Troops will obviously have to be inoculated, they will deal with boy soldiers and other problems, but they will have the best equipment, I won't spare any resources available to me."

He added the safety of troops and their preparedness would be "paramount".

The group currently sailing to Liberia is made up of key technical and military personnel and a protection unit. It is the first time an Irish naval vessel has been used overseas as an integrated support element in such an undertaking. It will reach Monrovia on October 16th.

The deployment of 430 troops has been sanctioned by the Department of Defence but is subject to Dáil approval.