Government wants to send Irish troops on ‘Israel-friendly mission’, Mary Lou McDonald claims

Detailed summary

Taoiseach reacts angrily, describing Sinn Féin leader’s claim as a ‘despicable, outrageous distortion of truth’ ...

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has claimed the Government wants to scrap the triple lock to deploy Defence Forces personnel “as part of an EU mission to act in the interests of Israel in disarming Hizbullah”.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin angrily rejected her claim as a “despicable, outrageous distortion of truth”.

In testy exchanges during Dáil Leaders’ Questions, he in turn accused her of “getting more desperate by the day”.

He insisted “no proposal has come to Government”, adding: ”We’ve made no decision in relation to it.”

But “either way”, they would not be placing Irish troops in harm’s way and would not have a partisan role other than “to support the Lebanese government in terms of training”.

“We support Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity,” which the Taoiseach said Israel is violating. “But we will not be in any way involved in the false narrative that you’ve articulated.”

Raising the issue for the second day running, McDonald said changing the law will carry “the most profound implications for this country for generations to come”.

The Government seeks to remove the requirement for a United Nations mandate for Defence Forces missions involving more than 12 personnel, leaving decisions to approval by the Dáil and Government.

McDonald claimed deploying personnel without a UN mandate is “destructive and dangerous”.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Irish Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.