Ireland will not send troops to southern Lebanon that if there was an "inordinate risk" to soldiers lives, the Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said today.
"A major issue will be whether or not we can confirm the safety of our troops as much as possible," Mr Ahern told RTE this afternoon.
The Taoiseach and Mr Ahern have also discussed the possibility of recalling the Dail from its summer recess to discuss the possibility of Irish troops being sent to the Middle East in advance of today's UN meeting to discuss plans for the establishment of the multinational force in Lebanon following the recent fighting between the Israeli Defence forces and Hizbullah.
Ireland is one of 45 potential troop-contributing states invited to attend the meeting at 8.30pm (Irish time).
No member state has made a definite commitment to the Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) force.
Rules of engagement will also form an important part of the discussions.
Mr Ahern said the Dail would have to discuss the matter before troops were deployed if the Government decided Irish soldiers should join the French-led international force charged with maintaining peace in the region.
"Previously when we were in Lebanon the numbers were much smaller so the involvement of small contingents from relatively small countries may very well be not as important in this instance as it was the last time.
"If we're contributing any troops they would be relatively small numbers in the context of 15,000, so that's the point, I think, we just have to make.
"So if we are contributing, it would only be in niche areas if that's felt possible."
Mr Ahern said he didn't yet know if Ireland would contribute troops to the proposed force but he praised the country's record of past involvement in UN peacekeeping missions.
"Ireland has always come up to the plate, as it were, in relation to contributing troops," he said.
"We have, per head of population, one of the highest levels of UN peacekeeping operations.
"That's something we're very proud of but we're not going to go into a situation where we ourselves feel that we're putting our own troops at an inordinate risk."
Mr Ahern said tough decisions would have to be made before a UN force is deployed in southern Lebanon.
Additional reporting PA