The Government has lodged a formal protest letter through the United Nations over the decision by the Israeli military to fire up to 30 rounds towards an Irish-Lebanese unit helping civilians in south Lebanon on Thursday.
The formal démarche correspondence, extracts of which have been seen by RTÉ News, states that what happened was "completely unacceptable in terms of the safety of peacekeepers" operating in the area.
It continues that "these concerns are held at the highest levels" of the Government and the Defence Forces, and must not be repeated.
A démarche is a formal letter of protest from the diplomatic wing of one country to another country, and is officially registered through the United Nations.
Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris gave permission for it to be sent after he was briefed by incoming Defence Forces Chief of Staff Brigadier General Rossa Mulcahy over the incident on Thursday.
The incident occurred in the south Lebanese village of Yaroun, which is 10km from Camp Shamrock, where Irish peacekeepers are based on the buffer zone blue line.
While helping locals in the village, which was heavily damaged by the Israeli military last year, a joint unit of six Irish blue helmets and members of the Lebanese Armed Forces was shot towards by Israeli military personnel.
Up to 30 shots were fired towards the unit over the space of nine minutes, with UNIFIL confirming all bullets landing within 50 metres of the unit.
While no injuries occurred, the unit was forced to leave the area, with sources describing the incident as involving warning shots at the peacemakers.
The formal démarche correspondence is the second to have been sent by Ireland to Israel this month.
In mid-May, a number of Irish diplomats were part of a diplomatic unit which also had bullets fired towards them in Jenin in the West Bank. No one was injured.
