New account of peacekeeping missions launched in Newbridge

Special guests, Tom Brady and Tom McCaughren were on hand to launch a new book by former Lieutenant Colonel Dan Harvey.

INTO ACTION — Irish Peacekeepers Under Fire, 1960–2014 was launched on Thursday, April 20 at Newbridge Silverware.

The book gathers a collection of all the incidents that saw Irish peacekeeping forces come under fire.

“The professionalism, courage and determination of the Irish personnel throughout is the constant unifying strand running through six decades of keeping the peace where others could not,” say publishers Merrion Press.

They said this new book presents the “far less familiar ‘hard edge’ of Irish Peacekeeping, bringing readers into a world of conflict, fears to be faced, conflicts to contain, and engagements that must be won”.

Dan Harvey served on operations at home and abroad for 35 years to date. He is the author of Soldiers of the Short Grass: A History of the Curragh Camp and has previously written about major incidents involving Irish Defence Forces members on active overseas peacekeeping services.