UN the best hope for world peace, says O’Dea
At a parade in Dublin’s McKee Barracks, Mr O’Dea said Ireland’s support for the world body had been unwavering over the last 50 years, and was still at the heart of the State’s foreign policy.
While the minister said he would like to see a speeding-up of the decision-making process to allow quicker intervention, he backed recent moves to regionalise UN operations to enable a faster response in crisis situations.
“The United Nations stands for the rule of law, for social and political justice and for the peaceful settlement of disputes.
“These are important principles for us - they are at the heart of our identity,” Mr O’Dea said.
“Although we sometimes forget it, the highest hope of the global community is to achieve what we in Ireland have achieved for ourselves: a means of living together in peace and understanding.
“While we do not have an answer to every problem, we do have the means to pursue these answers together - with respect, tolerance, accommodation and compromise,” he said.
Since 1958, Irish troops have performed more than 54,000 tours of duty on 58 UN peace missions across the world. There are currently 750 personnel serving in countries such Kosovo, Liberia, Afghanistan and parts of the Middle East.
Representatives of all sections of the Defence Forces attended yesterday’s parade, which was watched by veterans of Ireland’s international peacekeeping missions wearing their pale blue UN berets and polished medals.
One veteran, 80-year-old Paddy Bannon who served as a quarter master in the Congo and Cyprus, said it was an honour to be at the ceremony.
Of his service he said: “It was a good experience to have gone out and seen these other places - I enjoyed it.
Asked why he thought it was important for Ireland to participate in UN peacekeeping, he said: “We were all nationalities that have no enemies and we came back with lots of friends.”
At the parade, which was attended by Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern and Defence Forces Chief of Staff Jim Sreenan, Mr O’Dea congratulated the troops who, he said, had served as ambassadors for Ireland.
“From the Congo to Kosovo and from the Lebanon to Liberia you - the men and woman of the Irish Defence Forces - have never hesitated to move into some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.
“Wherever you have gone with the United Nations in the cause of peace, you have made a real and lasting contribution to the lives of the local communities,” he said.
Mr O’Dea added that Irish peacekeepers had one of the best reputations, among local people, in UN peacekeeping.
The minister also paid tribute to the selfless individual courage of the 85 Irish soldiers who had lost their lives under the UN flag, and to their families.
The Defence Minister met four Congo veterans who were still serving soldiers, before inspecting the pennants of all overseas units in the parade ground at the barracks.
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