Irish peacekeepers in Chad are not part of hidden agenda set by France

I WISH to reply to the letter headlined ‘Why Irish troops are in the wrong part of Africa’ from Edward Horgan (December 10).

Not only is the link Mr Horgan draws between the EU Lisbon Treaty and the EU peacekeeping mission to eastern Chad strikingly tenuous, but he has also made some inexcusable and inaccurate assertions.

The EU treaty is a separate issue, and while I am fully supportive of the necessity of this text for a new and enlarged union, I would prefer to deal with Mr Horgan’s remarks on Chad separately so as not to cloud two very important ongoing debates.