Defence Forces Review 2008

Ireland’s first engagement in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: An Assessment
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The second group (five officers) departed on 4 August, the third (ten officers) on 28 August, the fourth (eleven
officers) on 28 September and the fifth (nineteen officers) on 4 October 1958. Based on Lavelle UNOGIL p 193,
interview with Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Furlong, Bray, Co. Wicklow, 15 February 2005 and interview with
Colonel Colm Cox, Milltown, Co. Kildare, 25 February 2005.
14
Interview with Colonel Colm Cox, Milltown, Co. Kildare, 25 February 2005. Cox, who served as a military
observer with UNOGIL in 1958, stated in the interview that this opinion was widely held by the Defence Force
officers of that time.
15
Interview with Major General Fergus O’Connell, Dublin, 24 March 2005. O’Connell served as a military observer
with the UNOGIL mission in 1958 and provided the information on Johnston’s service with the UN task force
deployed to Amman.
16 NAI DFA 305/329/3, award of medal to Irish officers in UNOGIL file. This file contains a copy of the Defence
Forces’ Ceremonial Order 3/1960 dated 6 April 1960. It also gives insight into the protracted correspondence
regarding national authorisation for wearing UN medals. In this first Defence Forces United Nations medal parade
there was also a further unique historic dimension in that the Taoiseach Mr Sean Lemass was presenting a UN
medal to his son-in-law Captain Jack O’Brien (Cavalry Corps) who had served in UNOGIL.
17
‘UN chief asks for two Irish officers’, Irish Press, 16 December 1959
18 NAI DFA PMUN, 222/13/1, Department of External Affairs to PMUN, 6 January 1959; PMUN to the Department
of External Affairs, 7 January 1959 and PMUN to the Department of External Affairs, 23 January 1959
19
NAI DFA PMUN, 222/13/1, Department of External Affairs to PMUN, Department of Defence correspondence,
9 February 1960. This correspondence outlined a claim for reimbursement for a special clothing allowance and
the additional equipment issued to each officer, plus an ‘entertainment allowance’ issued to McCarthy. The claim
totalled £3,295 0s 0d, less the cost recovered from coats and medical kit returned to stores - £279 10s 1d,, thus
requiring £3,015 9s 11d to be paid. In effect, the state’s first venture into UN soldering cost £3,015 9s 11d.
20
NAI DFA, 305/329/4, Iveagh House copy of PMUN letter to the government
21
NAI DFA PMUN, 222/13/1, memorandum from Hammarskjold to PMUN, 9 July 1959.
22
United Nations Operation in the Congo (July 1960 – June 1964), 2001, available at http://www.un.org/Depts/
DPKO/Missions/onuc.htm (15 February 2006).
23
Carl von Horn. Soldiering for peace (New York, 1964), 184.
24 Interview with Brigadier Patrick Dixon, Athlone, Co. Westmeath, 18 February 2005. Dixon served as a military
observer with UNOGIL in 1958. During this service he served at UNOGIL headquarters and observed the regard
in which McCarthy was held by the entire headquarters staff.
25
Military Archives, Orduithe gnathaimh gineralta an Ard Aidiunach (hereafter cited as OGG), General Routine
Order 10/1967, signed by Major General Collins Powell on 30 May 1967, notifying that the Minister for Defence
had awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (Second Class) posthumously to McCarthy.
26
Minister for Defence, Kevin Boland, moving the estimates for his department on 29 April 1959, stated that the
1958 recruiting campaign for the Defence Forces was the most effective since 1950, due to the high profile for the
Defence Forces from United Nations service, Dail Debates, vol, 174, col, 1273 (29 April 1959) and comment in
‘Dail Report’, Irish Press, 30 April 1959.
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