Memorial for Irish peacekeepers
Mitchell urges the Government to erect a memorial on Leinster Lawn for people who died serving abroad. Fahey defers his response, along with Higgins’s question, to a later reply.
I join with the Minister and Deputy Higgins in expressing the concern and sympathy of Fine Gael on the death of the four young soldiers in the Lebanon. I would like to take the opportunity to express the hope that we will honour almost 80 people who have died while on service abroad. These particular soldiers did not die in combat but they would not have died had they not been there on a peacekeeping mission. I hope we will honour them by erecting a suitable memorial on Leinster lawn. It is time they were remembered and I hope the Minister will communicate that idea to the Government. I understand there may be cross-party support for that and I would like to see it done.
Does the Minister agree there appear to be efforts to delay the Palestinian track of the Middle East peace process until after the US presidential election and that, strange as it may have seemed some months ago, the Syrian track and, therefore, the Lebanese element of that track will probably move ahead much more speedily? Does the Minister have any information on that? Is there any attempt to delay the Palestinian talks until after the US elections in November?
