Book Review: Into Action, 1960-2014 Irish Peacekeepers Under Fire

From deployment in The Congo in the 1960s to present day operations in the Golan Heights Irish soldiers have found themselves in combat situations. Ryle Dwyer reads Dan Harvey’s book on our Blue Berets.

“A SOLIDER is a warrior, whose primary skill is in the taking of life,” Kevin Myers suggests in the forward to this book. Peacekeeping is only a secondary role, but it seems to have become the primary function of Irish soldiers, during nearly 60 years as peacekeepers with the United Nations.

Irish people can be immensely proud of that service rendered abroad by Irish soldiers. They have engaged in some 85,000 individual tours of duty in connection with over 70 UN-approved missions, during the course of which 86 Irish soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice.