The events surrounding the Niemba massacre, which took place 46 years ago in the Congo, are to be re-examined by the Army at the request of Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea.
In a letter to Independent TD for Dublin Central, Tony Gregory, the Minister said that he had asked the military authorities to "revisit the matter" in the light of parliamentary questions from Mr Gregory and his Independent colleague in the Dáil, Finian McGrath.
Mr O'Dea continued: "The Chief-of-Staff has appointed a senior officer to examine all aspects of the Niemba ambush in the Congo in November 1960, in particular the circumstances surrounding the death of Trooper Anthony Browne.
"The senior officer will also examine all records in military archives, interview former Army privates Kenny and Fitzpatrick and other survivors of the unit who may be in a position to contribute, and also the authors of any books or articles related to the ambush."
Commenting on the announcement, one of the two survivors, Thomas Kenny, said: "I have been waiting on this a long, long time."
He added: "If the truth is not told before I die, I will die very sad." He said he had made a statement in hospital after the massacre which had later disappeared. The attack by Baluba tribesmen against Irish UN peacekeepers brought the single greatest loss of life in any engagement by the Defence Forces since the foundation of the State.
Only two members of the 11-man Irish patrol survived, but controversy surrounds the fate of one of the victims, Trooper Anthony Browne (19), from inner-city Dublin.
Less than a year after the massacre, in September 1961, Trooper Browne became the first recipient of An Bonn Máleata Calmachta (Military Medal for Gallantry), the Army's highest honour. Trooper Browne's remains were not found until two years after the ambush, several kilometres from the site, suggesting that he may have escaped and been killed in a separate incident. But the official Army version of events, upheld by a second investigation recently, is that Trooper Browne died at the scene, saving the life of his colleague Pte Thomas Kenny, who was married with a child, and that his body was carried from the scene by the Baluba tribesmen as a tribute to his courage.
Pte Kenny and the other survivor, Pte Joseph Fitzpatrick, dispute this, and their case has been pursued by Deputies Gregory and McGrath, who want the two men to be fully and properly recognised by the State. A recent book, The Irish Army in the Congo 1960-1964, written by historian David O'Donoghue, also supports their version of events.