A 430-strong contingent of Irish soldiers is to travel to Liberia early next month to take part in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission (UNMIL).
The mission has been working on a disarmament programme since the end of the country's civil war last year.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Jim Sreenan, will review the 91st Infantry Battalion bound for Liberia at a parade in the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks in Dublin this afternoon.
The troops are drawn from 2 Eastern Brigade and will replace the 90th Battalion in the first week of June. They will operate as the force commander's rapid reaction reserve and will be involved in the disarmament, which has yielded more than 9,000 weapons to date.
It is expected the UN force will remain in Liberia until early 2006, with the Irish troops being rotated every six months.