Ireland's First Engagement in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: an Assessment

Abstract

In June 1958 Ireland responded positively to the United Nations (UN) secretarygeneral's request to provide personnel for an unarmed, military observer mission in Lebanon. Ireland later provided officers for another UN observer mission in the region. Defence Forces involvement in these missions preceded the more widely remembered commitment of Irish troops to the Congo in 1960. However, the UN observer missions in the Middle East are generally overlooked, if not forgotten, when the origin of Ireland's involvement in UN peacekeeping is being discussed. This paper endeavours to address this oversight by outlining the importance of these missions. For the Defence Forces, this first involvement in UN missions in the Middle East confirmed the ability of its officers to perform in a multinational military structure, thereby effectively endorsing national military training systems. Personnel from the Department of External Affairs and the Department of Defence also benefited from this early exposure to UN systems and procedures. Cumulatively, the benefit to state agencies from this involvement with the unarmed observer missions raised national confidence and facilitated the government's prompt response when the UN requested armed Defence Force units for the Congo in July 1960.