State papers 1987: Bruton wanted to pull troops from UN force in Lebanon

Minister for finance John Bruton wanted to withdraw Irish troops from peacekeeping in Lebanon in 1987 because Ireland was not being financially reimbursed sufficiently by the UN, writes Seán McCárthaigh

Cabinet files from 30 years ago show Mr Bruton was in favour of pulling the Irish contingent out of UNIFIL or at least significantly reducing its size as rates paid by the UN were “no longer adequate”.

Mr Bruton argued that there was a strong case for withdrawing Irish soldiers as the mission was underfunded by £270m. He claimed Ireland was only receiving 57% of the cost of keeping its troops in the Middle East.