It’s never too late for justice to be done

THE apology issued by the Minister for Defence and by the Chief of Staff for the failures that resulted in the deaths of three Irish soldiers in Lebanon in March 1989 is to be welcomed.

While it comes 22 years later, the issues involved are indicative of a history of denial and cover-up involving some Irish army authorities.

The Niemba Ambush in 1960 should never have happened. This incident did lead to a positive decision that all future Irish peacekeeping units would include an armoured car supporting unit. However, this decision led to another inexcusable mistake. The Ford armoured cars sent to the Congo in 1961 were not armoured cars at all, but converted trucks fitted with boilerplate cladding that was not bullet proof. Tests carried out in the Curragh showed that this boilerplate could be penetrated by normal rifle ammunition, and was vulnerable to armoured piercing ammunition and heavy machine guns.