Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-09
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. We are all very conscious of the very complex and changing environment in Lebanon on a daily basis, and even today when there were supposed to be ceasefires we see continuous fire and conflict taking place. I assure the House that there has been ongoing and substantive engagement with the United Nations and with our international partners regarding the position and future role of Irish personnel serving with UNIFIL, and particularly in light of the continuing and deeply concerning hostilities in Lebanon. I have engaged extensively, and will continue to do so, with the United Nations, with our European partners and with other key stakeholders on this matter, as well as maintaining direct bilateral contact with the Lebanese authorities and with my Lebanese counterpart who I have spoken to on a regular basis. This engagement reflects our long-standing commitment to peacekeeping, to the UNIFIL mission and to the seriousness of the current security environment. I have also spoken directly at senior levels within the UN. Most recently I have spoken with UN under-secretary-general for peace operations, Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, and I have written to him again reiterating our serious concerns regarding the safety and the security of peacekeepers in Lebanon. It is important to stress that I engage with our own Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces and our own personnel on a daily and weekly basis on the current situation and to ensure that our personnel are safe. In parallel, I have worked closely with European partners contributing to UNIFIL. We have had a broader discussion with the European troop contributing counterparts where, following that discussion, we engaged directly with Under-Secretary-General Lacroix calling for strengthened protection mechanisms for UNIFIL personnel and for thorough investigations into all incidents involving peacekeepers. We acknowledge that a number of peacekeepers across different countries have been killed in their duties in recent times and it is completely unacceptable that peacekeepers would be put in this type of danger. At a bilateral level I have also engaged directly with the Lebanese foreign minister, Mr. Raggi, and during this conversation I expressed our concern regarding the ongoing hostilities. It is important to stress that while he reaffirmed his absolute thanks and his appreciation for the role of the peacekeeping troops, I reaffirmed our absolute commitment and our presence on the ground and our desire to ensure that there is a continued mandate or a continued mission in some format once the UNIFIL mission comes to an end.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-09