The Dáil yesterday unanimously agreed a Government proposal to send 430 Irish troops next month to serve with the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
During a two-hour debate, the House backed the mission to the highly unstable west African country, where the peace process "remains fragile", according to the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith.
He acknowledged the security risk to UNMIL troops in the capital Monrovia was "medium" but "high" in the rest of the country.
In the initial stages, the Irish Battalion "will act in a pathfinding role for the UN Brigades deploying beyond Monrovia".
He believed the high-risk threat "should decline as the UN peacekeeping troops are deployed beyond Monrovia in the next phase of deployment."
