Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea is starting a three-day visit to Chad where Irish troops are preparing for the transfer of mission command to the UN.
More than 400 Irish troops have been on peacekeeping duty as part of the EU peace operation, EUFOR, for the past year.
Irish Lieutenant General Pat Nash is currently in charge of the 4,000-strong international force.
However, control of the mission is being transferred to the UN on 15 March and soldiers will wear the traditional blue beret.
This morning, Minister O'Dea and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Dermot Earley start a visit to the troops in advance of the changeover.
The first year of the operation has cost the Irish taxpayer about €60m, but the UN will pay most of the bill from now on.
Clooney security row
US actor George Clooney visited Irish troops last week (right) as part of a tour around Chad.
His visit was not without controversy after a New York Times column accused the UN of withdrawing a security escort for the actor's group as they went to a lawless area of Chad.
The UN is investigating the allegation made by columnist Nicholas Kristof, who is travelling with Mr Clooney, which linked the alleged UN move with nervousness in the region over a possible indictment by the International Criminal Court of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of neighbouring Sudan.
'Apparently concerned that Mr Clooney might say something strongly critical of Mr Bashir... the United Nations called me on Wednesday to say that effective immediately it was pulling Mr Clooney's security escort as he travelled these roads along the border,' Mr Kristof wrote (read his full column).
'Now that did seem petty and mean-spirited.'
UN spokeswoman Michele Montas cast doubt on the report, saying the UN mission in the West African country had no armed military police and relied on others for armed escorts.
'We are still trying to ascertain the facts,' Ms Montas told a regular news briefing, adding that Mr Clooney had gone to Chad in his own capacity and not in his role as a UN peace messenger.
Mr Clooney is one of ten celebrities from the worlds of film, music, literature and sport to bear that title.
She said the UN mission in Chad had no armed military police and relied on Chadian police and EUFOR for armed escorts.
'So the UN could not provide the sort of security details you are talking about,' Ms Montas told a questioner. 'So it could be EUFOR.
'EUFOR has been advised of the presence of Mr Clooney and they indicated that they would be prepared to provide Mr Clooney with support if required within the area of its operations.'
Ms Montas said the UN World Food Program had flown Mr Clooney's party to eastern Chad and enabled it to visit WFP project sites in the area, where hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region are encamped.
She also said she was trying to establish who telephoned Mr Kristof.
The ICC is expected to announce imminently whether it is going to indict Mr Bashir for war crimes in Darfur, western Sudan, where up to 300,000 people have died in a six-year conflict between the Khartoum government and rebel groups.
In his column, Mr Kristof cited anxiety in Chad that Mr Bashir could retaliate for an indictment by using a proxy force to invade Chad.
Sudanese and Chadian officials have exchanged accusations of backing rebel groups in each other's countries.
