Irish troops have served 40,000 individual tours of duty over four decades in Lebanon. All over Ireland, in almost every family, there is a father, a brother, a sister, son, daughter or cousin who has come under fire in South Lebanon. Forty-seven Irish troops died in Lebanon and thousands more have returned with physical and psychological injuries. Blood, Sweat and Tears tells the true story of the Irish at war. Clonan brings the reader on a tour of duty in Lebanon from 1995 to 1996. His vivid account brings you from a rain-swept Dublin Airport on a dark October night to the massacre of 118 innocent men, women and children in the village of Qana, South Lebanon in April 1996. The reader is taken on patrol with the Irish army and shares in their black humour, their fears, frustration and pain. It is through this odyssey that the heartbreaking nature of peacekeeping operations as seen through Irish eyes is laid bare like never before. Blood, Sweat and Tears is above all a story of personal loss, loneliness and the psychological trauma of military service in a time of war. As the narrator comes to terms with the slaughter of innocents around him, he will ultimately be confronted with the loss of those closest to him at home in Ireland. 'Tom Clonan brings to life the sights, sounds, smells and characters of southern Lebanon. His beautifully written book is in turns funny, gripping and heart-breaking.' - Lara Marlowe

From One End of the Rainbow: A Story about the Life Inside the Irish Defence Forces and Beyond is about how the truth can be clouded by what's perceived as reality. With the "truth," everybody is blameless. There are no "fall guys" - no victims, no reason, no justice - just a carefully woven sequence of events with no beginning and no end that will stand the test of time. Thirty-two years later, the "truth" is confronted with reality. The whole panoramic consequences of that takes its toll on the conscience and raises its head to be exposed in its very raw format. This invites the reader to determine the real truth, be the judge and the jury, and pass sentence. It exposes the real "politics" of the Government. How in fact the "privileged" are protected at all costs. It ascribes the destitute feeling of betrayal that eats into the very vertebrae of the real meaning of military life. The book also gives an insight into daily military life, the characters, the routine, and the effect it has on family life. Being a soldier is a vocation that can only be compared to religious life, because the feeling is the same when you retire. The reality is, an old soldier never dies.

The second volume of essays on Irish military history, is a facsimile version of the original articles from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The articles were first published in the Irish Sword, the journal of the Military History Society of Ireland. The Society was founded in 1949 with the aim of promoting the study of Irish military history, defined as the history of warfare in Ireland and of Irishmen in war. Each contribution to the second volume has been chosen because it is regarded as authoritative. The authors include scholars, professional soldiers, diplomats and a distinguished international journalist. The study of Irish units in the British army is represented by J A MacCauley's account of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. The first world war is the context of Terence Denman's analysis of the conflicts, military and political, that underlay the formation of the 10th (Irish) Division, Patrick MacCarthy examines the post-war history of the five Irish regiments that were selected for disbandment in 1922 in the wake of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. There are articles devoted to Ireland and the American civil war and General P J Hally gives an account of the military aspects of the 1916 Easter rising in Dublin. The civil war of 1922-3 is examined from a pro-treaty perspective by Michael Hopkinson and from the perspective of the treaty's opponents by Brian P Murphy. The divisions of the period resurface in Brian Hanley's study of the Volunteer Reserve of 1933 in relationship to the IRA. The organisation and capability of the army during the Second World War is considered by Donal O'Carroll, Eunan O'Halpin discusses aspects of military intelligence, Noel Dorr discusses the development of UN peacekeeping concepts over the last fifty years from an Irish perspective. Robert Fisk considers the role of the Irish in UNIFIL (United Nations interim force in Lebanon) between 1978 and 1995 and David Taylor relates his experience with UNIFIL as company commander in 1979-80 and as a battalion commander in 1992.

This fascinating and original book is the first to analyse the evolution of internal security policy and external defence policy in Ireland from independence to the present day. Professor O'Halpin examines the very limited concept of external defence understood by the first generation of Irish leaders, going on to chart the state's repeated struggles with the IRA and with other perceived internal and external threats to stability. He explores the state's defence and security relations with Britain and the United States and, drawing extensively on newly released records, he deals authoritatively with problems of subversion, espionage, counterintelligence and codebreaking during the Second World War. In conclusion, the book analyses significant post-Second World War developments, including anti-communist co-operation with Western powers, the emergence of UN service as a key element of Irish foreign and defence policy, the state's response to the Northern Ireland crisis since 1969, and Ireland's difficulties in addressing the collective security dilemmas facing the European Union in the post-Cold War era. It is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the development of independent Ireland since 1922.

Into Action is the story of the Irish Defence Forces’ role as international peacekeepers since 1960. While primarily posted to uphold the transition towards peace in overseas conflicts, they have at times inevitably been forced to fight back against often aggressive opposition. Dan Harvey’s fascinating and accessible history follows the major military incidents in the peacekeepers’ sixty-year campaign, from Niemba, the Siege at Jadotville, and Elizabethville in the Congo to At-Tiri in Lebanon, and Durbol in Syria. These are to name just a few of the military engagements that involved supreme bravery on behalf of the Irish Defence Forces and, at times, ended in terrible tragedy. Dan Harvey’s detailed account of the military operations they were involved in reveal the defence forces’ effective responses to crisis and conflict; how they stood firm during ethnically-motivated rioting in Gracancia or intervened in the midst of a clash between Chadian government forces and rebel attackers, and how the Irish nation was halted into mourning in November 1960 by news that nine soldiers of the 33rd Irish Battalion had been killed by Baluba warriors near Niemba in the Congo. These are the deeds and tragedies that have come to define Ireland’s role in international peacekeeping. Into Action reveals the true story of this role and the immense courage that have underlined its operations from the beginning.

The Republic of Ireland has won its status as a leading contributor to international peacekeeping operations, which has been its key 'foreign policy' since the 1960s. But why is Ireland so keen to be involved? This new book asks and answers this and other key questions about Ireland's close involvement with the EU. It cannot simply be for charitable reasons, so is it because it is a neutral state or because it is a middle power? Overall, is Ireland's peacekeeping policy based on realism and liberalism? The characteristics of peacekeeping operations have changed significantly, especially since the end of the Cold War. Can Ireland survive as a traditional peacekeeping contributor or does it have to change its peacekeeping policy radically? And will it be able to maintain its distance from NATO and the EU in terms of peacekeeping operations? This title attempts to answer all of these questions, drawing on a wide range of resources from literature, Irish and UN documents, to newspapers and interviews.

From inexperienced soldier to seasoned veteran of nine U.N. missions in Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, Terry Burke gives us a detailed account of a peacekeeper's life in the ever-turbulent Middle East.

This book aids any researcher, policymakers and military personnel in researching small states and militaries, European defence and security policy, as well as contemporary and emerging threats. This edited collection gathers academic commentators on Irish defence policy, military leaders from across the service components of the Irish Defence Forces and European defence experts to contribute to the first in-depth conversation and analysis on modern Irish defence and its application within the European Union. The aim of this edited book is to ascertain what capabilities are robust, which are lacking, what future threats need to be catered for, and what action is needed to ensure those threats will be addressed going forward. This book will explore emerging issues and applications of modern and contemporary threats within the context of Ireland, Europe and Western institutions. We have invited submissions from scholars, commentators, policymakers and military practitioners to evaluate the Irish Defence Forces and to illustrate the complexities facing small nations in formulating and resourcing defence and national security policy.