Defence Forces Review 2008

Ireland’s first engagement in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: An Assessment
and Israeli forces in Gaza at the conclusion of the Suez Canal War in 1956. Ireland was then
less than a year in the organisation and Costello’s coalition government was in power. The
Secretary to the Department of Defence, Peadar McMahon, wrote on behalf of his minister
to Sean Murphy, Secretary to the Department of External Affairs, with a specific request. In
this correspondence, dated 20 November 1956, he sought information on a range of issues
affecting possible Irish participation in such a force. 7
From November 1956 onward, the Permanent Mission to the UN in New York was very
proactive on these matters. The experimental nature of the UNEF mission and the newly
emerging concept of ‘peacekeeping’ was the focus of their attention They considered
Indonesia’s intention to withdraw its contingent from UNEF as a opportunity for possible
Irish involvement. This situation arose in July 1957. At this stage, de Valera’s Fianna Fail
government was in power when charge d’affaires Kennedy sought guidance from Dublin
on the possibility of Ireland’s participate in such a UN force. In Iveagh House, Conor Cruise
O’Brien was handling the file and he canvassed the views of the Department of External
Affairs and the Department of Defence. The military input into the Department of Defence
reply outlined a range of issues inhibiting the possibility of such participation, including
the low strength of the Defence Forces and the requirement to amend the Defence Act. The
Department of External Affairs then prepared a memorandum for government on this issue. 8
The government noted these difficulties, but nevertheless, in its decision of September 1957
directed the Department of Defence to begin preparation of the amendments to the Defence
Act in anticipation of any future UN request for Iris troops. From this point onward, the process
was firmly in train to prepare for the possibility of involvement in UN peacekeeping initiatives.
This was the point from which the government’s ‘decision in principle’ to participate in future
UN military activities can be dated. The Cabinet meeting of 18 March 1958 again addressed
the issue and decided to accept the Department of Defence’s proposals for amendment to
the Defence Act but put further preparation on hold until an actual opportunity to participate
arose. 9 Therefore, since November 1956, from the birth of armed UN peacekeeping,
successive governments were positively disposed to Defence Forces participation in UN
military missions. The invitation to participate in the 1958 UNOGIL mission was the first
opportunity that presented itself. This Lebanon mission had an added interest because the
numbers requested were low an participation was limited to officer observers. Politically too,
the issue was unlikely to be contentious for de Valera’s government given the interest of
Costello government the previous November.
Se l e c t i o n o f Of f i c e r Vo l u n t e e r s
On the military side, to support the decision made on Wednesday morning 24 June 1958,
there was a requirement to select personnel for a mission without precedent in the Defence
Forces’ short history. The Chief of Staff, Major General Mulcahy and the Adjutant General,
Colonel Hally, shortlisted twelve officers for consideration and ordered them to report to
Defence Forces headquarters at 1000 hrs on 25 June 1958. 10 Within the military, a peremptory
summons to the Adjutant General’s Office is out of the ordinary and usually has adverse
disciplinary connotations and so each officer was fearful as to why he was required there at
such short notice. These fears were only allayed at the appointed time when Mulcahy and
Hally informed them of the UN request and the government’s positive response to it. The
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