Irish troops to New Orleans plan dismissed as 'ludicrous'

Proposals to send up to 30 Irish troops to help the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in the United States were dismissed as ludicrous today by a leading humanitarian worker.

John O’Shea, of the third world agency GOAL, criticised suggestions that Irish soldiers could be dispatched to the devastated Gulf Coast to provide thousands of ready meals, blankets, first aid and water purification kits, medical aid, crutches and wheelchairs to victims of the hurricane.

GOAL’s chief executive said he and others had urged successive Irish governments for 20 years to provide protection to Irish doctors and nurses whose lives were at risk in places such as the Congo and northern Uganda but had drawn a blank.

“I am told we haven’t got the Army officers to do this job, yet out of nowhere we find that 30 or 50 or 100 are available,” he said.

“You are talking about the most sophisticated, best-equipped army on the planet (the US Army) and we are the Boy Scouts, if you like, going into the Battle of the Somme. So let’s be realistic.

“Of course we have to identify with the situation. Of course we have to let the people of America know, as we did in 9/11, but the way we are going about it is ludricous and it sets a very dangerous precedent.

“Does it mean now that if the Eiffel Tower falls down tomorrow, that we are going to send in the Girl Guides?”

The Government pledged an initial €1m to the victims of the hurricane yesterday, with aid being directed to those most in need through the Red Cross and community-based organisations in Louisiana.

Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern confirmed the Irish Republic would also provide aid through the European Union.

But Mr O’Shea said that while the Government’s move was well intentioned, the United States was awash with billionaires.

“They do not need our money,” he told RTE Radio.

“They certainly need words of support and they perhaps need our ministers on the ground to identify with the situation but this was just the wrong call.

“I can understand where the Government is coming from. They wanted to do something.

“It is right that they wanted to do something but this is just the wrong thing.”