Sir, - Just how much money is overdue to Ireland in respect of United Nations overseas peacekeeping duties by Irish troops?
Encouraged by a recent article in The Irish Times to use the Freedom of Information Act 1997, I have ascertained from the Department of Defence that as at March 1st, 1999, the total amount owed is £9.2 million. Of this sum, £5.7 million represents our troop costs June 1998 to February 1999 (Lebanon and Cyprus), which is reasonably "current". However, another £3.476 million is outstanding, mainly in respect of death and disability benefits, some of the claims dating back as far as 1975!
Continual efforts have been made by our Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Defence to recover these monies from United Nations, but evidently without much success. In a written Dail reply on February 17th, 1999, Mr David Andrews stated that the problem of arrears owing to Ireland and other troop-contributing countries is a result of the financial crisis experienced by the UN for the last number of years, caused by the failure of many member states - in particular the United States - to pay their assessed contributions to UN regular and peacekeeping budgets in full and on time. Consequently, the UN Secretary-General has been forced to delay normal reimbursements to troop contributors in order to deal with the serious day-to-day cash flow situation facing the UN system.
The Secretary-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, as recently quoted in The Irish Times, was more direct. He informed the Dail Committee of Public Accounts that there was hope "that one of the big sinners - the US - would put its house in order". He stated that American arrears arose because "the UN has been taken hostage by Congress for ideological reasons."
It is regrettable that our claims for death and disablement benefits dating back over 20 years should be unpaid, in view of our record in peacekeeping duties, and that one of the main culprits for this position should be the United States.
I invite the US Ambassador to Ireland to address this matter, and to explain to the taxpayers of Ireland why US governments have reneged on their financial commitments to the UN, and why we as a nation should continue to provide Irish troops for UN peacekeeping duties when the US will not pay its share of the costs.-Yours, etc., Tony O'Hanlon,
Vernon Rise, Clontarf, Dublin 3.