If you'd been following this issue for a while (as I have), Mr. Irelander, you'd know that the real fun will come with whether we go into the Nordic battle groups or the Old Enemy's.
Well we already have Irish soldiers serving in places like Afghan along side British so once the issue is about Peace keeping or abserving there should be no problem
Soldiers serving on ad hoc UN missions is a very different kettle of fish to what's being proposed here, though. This is about creating units where - if we end up in the British ones - we'll have Irish army units with a chain of command leading to British officers, and inevitably British troops in the Glen and the Curragh on training exercises.
A scenario with British squaddies brawling with locals in the streets of Newbridge or Kildare would be an electoral nightmare for whichever government allowed them there. As an illustration of what I'm on about, I recall that the British used to send only Gurkhas to the annual international shoot in the Curragh Camp.
Wasn't the triple lock reaffirmed as a sop to the voters to come around on Nice?
If so, it'll be very difficult to get rid of. No doubt Billy would like to see the PDs and FF do it because a rainbow coalition will likely include Nice refuseniks, the Green Party.
Another problem with the British chain of command, EWI, is that it may not yet be purged of force research unit types who encouraged their loyalist and republican agents to murder innocent people in the North. This might well blow up over the next five years. It's one thing for the dogs in the street to know things, but it is another entirely for it to come out in an inquiry.
But sure if we're lucky, it might not come out at all.
Wasn't the triple lock reaffirmed as a sop to the voters to come around on Nice?
I fear that the triple-lock may not be long for this world. It was no doubt useful in explaining to Dubya why we couldn't send Irish troops into that mess, but I doubt our EU partners will be half as understanding.
The triple lock kept the Irish out of the first EU force mission, to Macedonia (FYROM to some). This was because the Chinese were peeved by somebody else opening an embassy in Taiwan, and wouldn't sign a UNSC resolution. Good job that Macedonia wasn't in the midst of a genocide.
But what about Rwanda, Sudan etc.? The triple lock is a sop to those afraid that Irish pols couldn't stand up to the Germans, Brits and French. The real issue is whether the Irish government are willing to keep improving their forces. The great advances in this century have been paid for by the closure of barracks. That fund is now closed.
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