Irish soldiers whose travel to the Golan Heights has been delayed by two weeks are "anxious to get on and do their job", Minister for Defence Simon Coveney said today.
Mr Coveney, who met the 133-strong group this week, said he had to consider the soldiers’ safety in the aftermath of recent hostilities in the area before sanctioning the trip.
“They’re anxious to get on and do their job as soldiers in a very important peacekeeping mission but it’s my job to ensure that they go into an environment that’s managing risk appropriately,” he said.
Mr Coveney said he hoped to be able to confirm “in the not too distant future” that Ireland would remain part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) mission.
“But we are delaying the rotation, if it goes ahead, by two weeks because of the changing structure on the ground.”
He said the soldiers that had been there for the last six months would remain in place before fresh troops arrived.
“I met the troops this week who’ll be heading out hopefully by mid-October. They’re very enthusiastic. They’ve trained incredibly hard for this mission. They’ve a lot of experience.”
Mr Coveney said of the 130 troops heading out only 33 were going overseas on a mission for the first time.
He was speaking outside Government Buildings in Dublin this morning ahead of the Cabinet meeting.
UNDOF has been policing the demilitarised zone between the two countries since 1974.
Last month, Irish troops exchanged fire with Islamist insurgents in Syria in the course of an operation to evacuate 35 Filipino UN peacekeepers whose base was surrounded by up to 300 armed rebels.
