The Cabinet has approved the transfer of Irish troops from an EU-led force in Chad to the United Nations "blue hat" mission, from next month.
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea confirmed he had secured Cabinet approval for the move this morning.
The Irish contingent is currently serving with the UN mandated EU-led mission in Chad, but its mandate expires next month. The troops will transfer to United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT).
Mr O'Dea said he would now seek Dáil approval for the transfer of Irish personnel to the UN mission on March 15th.
He will seek approval for the rotation of further contingents of the permanent Defence Force for service with the UN mission in Chad for a period of 12 months from that date.
"This will complete the triple-lock mechanism of UN, Government and Dáil approval before Irish personnel transfer to the UN mission in Chad," the Minister said.
He said that as the proposed follow-on force would be a UN-led operation, the UN would "reimburse certain costs".
On January 14th last, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorising the deployment of a military component of MINURCAT to replace the EUFOR mission at the end of its mandate.
Currently, 434 Irish soldiers are serving with the EUFOR mission (18 at the pperational headquarters in Paris and 416 in Chad).
Mr O'Dea said the Defence Forces commitment to the UN mission would be for an initial period of one year.
"Subject to the renewal of the UN mandate, a satisfactory review of the mission and available resources, a decision will be taken by the Government in early 2010, as to whether Defence Forces participation in the UN force after March 2010 should be extended."