More than 2,500 Defence Forces personnel were deployed during US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s visits to Ireland this year.
The summary of defence and security operations in 2019 details deployments including aid to civil authority operations and supporting An Garda Siochana, HSE, local authorities and other key agencies of the State.
The Army conducted more than 195 “aid to the civil power” operations in support of gardai, involving bomb squad callouts, escorts for prisoners explosives, major cash and search operations.
More than 336 personnel, including the engineer specialist search teams, were deployed to assist in 14 searches on request from gardai this year.
In the summer, approximately 120 personnel were deployed to assist civil authorities during multiple operations, including combating gorse fires in counties Wicklow, Donegal and Mayo.
The Irish Defence Forces has the longest unbroken record of overseas service with the UN of any country in the world since first deploying in 1958.
There are currently 595 Defence Forces personnel serving overseas.
