Micheál Martin says Irish troops are safe and will remain in Lebanon

Vivienne Clarke

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that Ireland will coordinate with other European countries should it be necessary to evacuate citizens from Lebanon.

There is a consular team in Beirut with “a civilian evacuation team in place,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

Mr Martin added that Irish troops serving with Unifil will remain in Lebanon.

“Obviously, different scenarios are examined and reviewed on an ongoing basis by the Unifil command. And when I was in United Nations last week, I spoke to Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the undersecretary for peacekeeping, to tease through all of potential scenarios. But remember, right now, movement across Lebanon would be highly dangerous.

“So our soldiers are safe. I've just spoken to the chief of staff who is in constant contact with the commanders there, and they have bunkered down any time there have been various bombings or attacks coming across into Lebanon. And so force protection is the number one priority.

"Supplies had been sent in well in advance of all of this. And so I think that the fundamental point for those listening and particularly the families listening, is that our soldiers are safe.

"They are professional. It is a very challenging environment. It is a very difficult environment. Any sort of unilateral move by any individual contingent on Unifil is clearly not an option.

“We want de-escalation. I think we've seen in other conflicts around the world in the past where unilaterally sudden exodus of United Nations peacekeepers can lead to a far more deteriorating situation for the civilian population in given areas.

"So this is not a simple sort of sort of equation whereby you just pack up and move out in the context of hostilities of this sort. It is very, very challenging. It's a dangerous environment. And we have professional soldiers who have been trained for situations like this. They are safe.”

Registered Irish citizens in the region had been contacted and the Department of Foreign Affairs would assist “in any given scenario.”

“Our numbers are nowhere as high as, for example, UK citizens, French citizens, Canadian citizens and so on in Lebanon. So this would be an international operation to evacuate citizens and we will work in coordination with European Union member states.”