Twenty-two army officers from 13 foreign countries will today complete a three-week military observer course at the Defence Forces' United Nations Training School Ireland (UNTSI).
The course ends with a three-day exercise in which the officers deal with a mock confrontation with belligerent forces at the Army's artillery range in the Glen of Imaal, Co Wicklow.
Yesterda,the officers were presented with a potentially dangerous confrontation at a UN checkpoint.
As UN observers, they will serve in conflict areas, and during the Glen of Imaal exercise they had to show how to deal with armed and aggressive paramilitaries without the use of arms.
The students taking part in the exercise are from Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Algeria, the UK, Germany, Romania, Italy, Mexico, Tunisia, the United States, Hungary and Zambia.
Cmdt Kieran McDaid, Permanent Defence Forces' (PDF) press officer, said that the course was designed to prepare foreign officers for service with the UN.
"They spend three weeks with the UN school, learning basic observer duties. The course covers the fundamentals of UN MO [military observer] duties, from reporting incidents to administrative procedures, patrolling and operational duties," Cmdt McDaid said.
"In the Glen of Imaal exercise they are confronted with a series of problems typical of the type of difficult incident that UN observers face in conflicts."
Yesterday, the "belligerents" were members of the "Tir na nÓg Forces", led by Lt- Col Declan Carberry, who is based at The Curragh. He led a group of "boisterous" and "threatening" soldiers, backed up by armoured personnel carriers and heavy weaponry, which was demanding the release of people under the protection of UN troops in a UN base.
The foreign students had to negotiate a settlement with the belligerents while protecting the people in their care.
The second exercise involved an attack on a UN observer convoy in which one of the observers - in this case a British army officer - has been shot and seriously injured. The other students had to negotiate their way to freedom while caring for and protecting their colleague.
This is the eighth annual UN MO course run by the PDF College. The course has become an important fixture in training observers for service in all the major conflict zones around the world.
The Defence Forces, with more than 40 years' experience in UN duties, has a great deal of peacekeeping experience. Unlike most other national defence forces, much of the PDF's ethos is directed towards peacekeeping. PDF officers, along with experience members of the Garda, now regularly serve in senior positions in UN peacekeeping and monitoring missions.
The course, covering the fundamentals of UN peacekeeping, UN mission reporting, administration procedures and operational duties, is directed by Col Dom Timpson, of the UN School at The Curragh.