President Mary McAleese has made a pre-Christmas visit to the 430 Irish peacekeepers in Liberia.
She told the troops that though they would be away in a strange place for Christmas, their work in the west African country is nothing short of critical.
The president was accompanied by her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, and Defence Minister Willie O'Dea.
It is Mrs McAleese's first trip abroad since her re-inauguration.
She laid a wreath at the Irish headquarters, Camp Clara, in memory of Sergeant Derek Mooney who was killed in Liberia last year. She later lit the Christmas Tree lights for the troops.
At a lunch in the camp, Mrs McAleese said the Irish peacekeepers in Liberia were a buffer against corruption, oppression and despair.
The president also visited a hospice for AIDS/HIV patients, and met Irish representatives working with development agencies and the Chairman of the transitional government of Liberia, Charles Gyude Bryant.
