O'Dea visits Irish troops in Kosovo

The Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has been in Kosovo visiting Irish troops on peacekeeping duty.

The threat of violence in the region is now considered to be low but the Commanding Officer of the Irish soldiers Lieutenant Colonel Derry Fitzgerald is warning underlying tensions remain between Serbs and Albanians.

The 211 Irish troops are carrying out around 20 operations a week. They have an average age of 32 and for 70 of them it is their first foreign mission.