Taoiseach salutes 50 years of Irish peacekeeping

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen paid tribute to the Defence Forces as veteran soldiers and army chiefs celebrated 50 years of peacekeeping missions.

As troops prepared for the rainy season in Ireland’s most expensive mission abroad in the dangerous and remote terrain of Chad, retired soldiers back home stood their ground in continuous rain yesterday during a near two-hour ceremony.

Surviving members of Ireland’s first peacekeeping mission to the Lebanon 50 years ago also attended the anniversary occasion at McKee barracks.