Cabinet row over bid to extend UN peace-keeping mission

PLANS to extend an Irish peace-keeping mission in the Middle East almost caused war in Government after it emerged the Cabinet only met to decide whether to sanction the move the day the troops flew out.

Even more embarrassing for the coalition, a photograph of the group of officers picked to oversee the mission appeared in an evening newspaper a week earlier during a visit to the President and Minister for Defence at Áras an Uachtaráin.

The Government had been requested by the United Nations to extend the service of Irish troops working with the UN Emergency Force in the Middle East (UNEF) and to increase the numbers deployed there.

A memo prepared by Minister for Foreign Affairs, Garrett FitzGerald, in April 1974 painted a largely positive picture of the troops’ experience on the mission, noting that “morale is excellent” at their base at Neguila in Sinai.

No Irish member had been involved in “any incident of note” apart from when: “Captain James Mortell was mistakenly taken prisoner by Syrian troops and suffered some ill-treatment before the error was recognised.”

The proposal on the table was to extend the Irish troops’ service by six months and increase the 270-strong contingent by 50. The Cosgrave Government’s main reservation was its “grave dissatisfaction” with the UN’s delay in paying for Irish troops on peace-keeping duty in Cyprus.

Within a few weeks, all the bickering was irrelevant as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings prompted the withdrawal of the entire Irish contingent from UNEF.

Papers include a note that US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, had expressed regret at the Irish withdrawal and, while he sympathised with the reasons behind the decision, said he hoped it would be temporary.