Bid to change rules on peacekeeping role

IRISH troops should be able to take part in European Union peacekeeping missions without a mandate from the United Nations, Defence Minister Michael Smith said yesterday.

The minister plans to bring a proposal to the Cabinet that would allow the Government to make the necessary changes to the Defence Act, but only on a case-by-case basis.

Mr Smith, in Brussels for a meeting of European Union defence ministers, said he hoped that Irish troops would go to the Congo on foot of a request made yesterday by the UN to the European Union.