The Minister with Responsibility for Defence Mr. Paul Kehoe T.D., accompanied by Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Vice Admiral Mark Mellett DSM, will review the men and women of the 114th Infantry Battalion in St Eunans College, Letterkenny, Co Donegal on Fri 03rd May at 11am. The review of the 114th Infantry Battalion is ahead of their six month deployment to South Lebanon as part of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The deployment of the 114th Infantry Battalion will see 450 troops rotate to South Lebanon in what is Ireland’s largest overseas deployment to a single mission area. Once deployed, the 114th Infantry Battalion will assume command of the IRISHBATT Area of Operations, taking over from 113th Infantry Battalion who deployed to the mission area last November. IRISHBATT will be comprised of 450 Irish army, naval and air corps personnel. The unit will also include ten soldiers from the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM). This will be the second rotation of AFM personnel with Irish troops to Lebanon.
The personnel travelling with the 114th Infantry Battalion represent 29 counties across Ireland with the main contributing unit being the 28th Infantry battalion which is based in Finner Camp, Co Donegal (72 personnel). The next three (3) largest units contributing troops are the 7th Infantry Battalion (66), based in Dublin, the 6th Infantry Battalion (32), based in Athlone and the 27th Infantry battalion (31), located in Dundalk and Gormanston Camp, Co Meath.
The unit will form up in St Eunans College, Letterkenny. This will be followed by a parading of the Unit Colours (flag), the Minister's address and a ceremonial 'March Past'. The Unit will then parade through the town. The parade will be dismissed at Letterkenny Community Centre
