The Minister for Defence has confirmed that Irish troops are to return to Lebanon.
Speaking at the PDFORRA conference in Waterford, Willie O'Dea said the Cabinet had approved proposals to dispatch about 150 soldiers who will be part of a unit with Finnish troops.
For the past few months Irish troops have been in training to assist in the peace keeping efforts in Lebanon.
The 150 soldiers are to join UNIFIL at the end of October.
They will team up with a Finnish engineering unit who will be involved in construction, bomb clearance and humanitarian work.
The Irish will carry out reconnaissance, security and protection duties.
Mr O'Dea told the rank and file members of the Defence Forces that Irish troops are returning to Lebanon in unfortunate circumstances.
But he is confident that there is a substantive role for the Defence Forces in supporting the rebuilding of Lebanon.
Forces need more funding - PDFORRA
Earlier, PDFORRA said the forces need increased funding and manpower to effectively meet their commitments.
However, the association welcomed the intervention of the Minister in the row over the amount of time members of the naval service must spend at sea.
PDFORRA says the practice of two years at sea followed by two years ashore is not working.
It says sailors are now being required to work at sea when they should be on shore rotation and available to their families.
PDFORRA also said that personnel numbers are decreasing at a time when additional commitments are coming on stream for the Defence Forces.
The Deputy General Secretary, Simon Devereux, said despite a growing economy and an increasing workload for the Defence Forces the funding of the forces has not grown at a similar level.
Mr Devereux complained that Ireland still spends less on defence than any other country in the EU.
He said this does not make sense when there are ongoing commitments at home, a long-standing commitment to the UN, as well as a commitment to EU Battle Groups.
