Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07DUBLIN32
2007-01-12 17:09:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Dublin
Cable title:  

IRELAND CONSIDERING APPROACH TO LEBANON CONFERENCE

Tags:  ECON EFIN EAID XT LE JA CA NO EI 
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VZCZCXRO7128
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DE RUEHDL #0032 0121709
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121709Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUBLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7849
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEATRS/TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
UNCLAS DUBLIN 000032

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIN EAID XT LE JA CA NO EI
SUBJECT: IRELAND CONSIDERING APPROACH TO LEBANON CONFERENCE

REF: STATE 2781

(SBU) The Irish Government is in a position to pledge funds
to Lebanon at the January 25 Conference in Paris, but has not
yet determined an amount, according to Dermot McGauran,
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Deputy Director for the
Middle East and North Africa, to whom Pol/Econ Chief
delivered reftel demarche on January 12. McGauran noted that
a Paris pledge would add to the euro 1.5 million that Ireland
had provided to Lebanon in 2006 through various channels. He
added that the Irish Government would most likely send a
representative to the Paris conference, but had not decided
who. McGauran emphasized that Irish involvement in Lebanon
stretched back to 1978, when Irish troops took part in the
original UNIFIL mission. Between 1980 and 2001, 47 Irish
soldiers died in the course of UNIFIL service, he recounted.
He also pointed out that there were now 150 Irish soldiers in
the reconstituted UNIFIL force, as part of a Finnish-Irish
battalion. This latest troop contribution, McGauran said,
embodied Ireland's continuing commitment to Lebanon.
BENTON