Irish Soldiers Should Not Be Involved in ‘Peace Enforcement’ Missions

Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee has said that Irish troops should be deployed to Lebanon as part of a new EU support mission and be involved in both peacekeeping and peace enforcement duties. “We will not be in a position to do that in the way we want to if the Triple Lock is not reformed”. Reforming the Triple Lock* by removing the need for a UN mandate ends the Triple Lock, which means reneging on binding commitments given during the second referendums for the Nice and Lisbon treaties. Irish soldiers should never be involved in peace enforcement missions. Peace enforcement includes joining ‘coalitions of the willing’ and fighting wars of aggression such as the twenty-year Afghan war, and the wars in Iraq, that cost the lives of well over a million people. Peace enforcement without UN approval could result in the Irish Defence Forces acting in breach of the UN Charter. US, UK and Australian forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan where Irish soldiers were also serving on a NATO mission. While UN Security Council permanent members could veto Irish involvement in peacekeeping missions, Irish soldiers have served in up to 70 UN-mandated peace missions since 1958, without any vetoes being applied. Some of these such as ONUC in the Congo in the 1960s did involve peace enforcement, which cost the lives of 26 Irish soldiers, without bringing peace to the Congolese people. We have lost 48 Irish peacekeeping soldiers killed in Lebanon where there has been too little peace to keep.

Israel has invaded and occupied Lebanese territory on seven occasions. The EU support mission will have no mandate to deal with the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and will also likely be intervening in a civil war in Lebanon by attempting to disarm Hezbollah. It would be placing our Irish soldiers in unjustified danger. Our soldiers’ lives are much too valuable to be squandered on inappropriate missions without a UN mandate. – Dr Edward Horgan Commandant .(retired) and was a former UN peacekeeper.

*The Triple Lock

For Irish troops to deploy abroad, the operation must simultaneously satisfy three conditions:

United Nations Authorisation: Approval from the UN Security Council or the UN General Assembly.
Government Agreement: A formal decision and approval by the Irish Government (Cabinet).
Dáil Approval: The consent of Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) in accordance with national law.

Edward Horgan

Dr. Edward Horgan, a former Army commandant, served with U.N. peacekeeping missions in Cyprus and the Middle East in the 1970s. He had joined the Army cadet school in 1963 and was commissioned as an officer in 1965.While serving with the U.N. in Cyprus in 1966, 1971 and 1973 and in the Middle East in 1973-74, it was his duty to explain the basic concepts of international law to the soldiers under his command. After leaving the military, he achieved a first-class honors BA degree in history, politics, and social studies in 2001 and was awarded a master’s in philosophy (peace studies) degree by Trinity College in 2000. He has worked as a civilian U.N. volunteer on election and democratization missions with the United Nations and the EU in Bosnia, Croatia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, and East Timor. He is a veteran Shannonwatch peace campaigner, international secretary of the Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance, founder and coordinator of Veterans For Peace Ireland, and the founder of The Veterans Global Peace Network.