Four Irish officers are to participate in the French-led Interim Emergency Multinational Force in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Department of Defence said yesterday the men would be deployed next week. A contingent of fewer than 12 soldiers does not require approval by the Dáil.
Two of the Irishmen, a captain and a sergeant, will be stationed in Entebbe, Uganda, where the French have established a logistics support base for the force in Bunia.
Both will be present or former members of the Irish Rangers, and will participate in the "command protection element" of the base, along with a half dozen French soldiers.
"They will deploy to Bunia if and when conditions permit," said Comdt Kieran McDaid of the Defence Forces.
The other two Irishmen will be stationed in Paris, where a senior officer will be assigned to the training cell and a senior non-commissioned officer will work with the IEMF's operations cell.
The IEMF was established last month by UN Security Council resolution 1484, in the hope of stemming ethnic violence between the Hema and Lendu tribes.
It is the first EU military force to be deployed outside Europe. The French call the mission "Operation Artemis".
Two Irish soldiers are already serving in the Congo, at Kisangani and Kindu, with the MINUC, which was set up by the UN in the summer of 2001.
Within hours of receiving the French request, the Department of Defence asked four officers to fill the positions. They have been given the weekend to think it over.
French officials took exception to a report in The Irish Times on June 11th that Paris had declined the offer of Irish troops for the peacekeeping force.
France wants the Interim Emergency Multinational Force to have broad political backing within the EU and apparently did not want to give the impression that it snubbed an EU partner.
The presence of Comdt Martin McDermott at a Force Generation Conference in Paris on June 10th and 11th signified Ireland's willingness to participate, but officially he attended in a "listening capacity".
"We had said we would consider sending Rangers if we were asked, but the request never came," Mr Nolan explained. "The request for administrative staff came today."
