Over 400 men and women of the Irish Defence Forces will parade through Letterkenny this Friday morning ahead of their deployment to Lebanon.
The event is expected to be an impressive spectacle as the troops march from St Eunan’s College to the High Road, down Main Street and over the Pearse Road to Letterkenny Community Centre.
The 114th Infantry Battalion will first face a review at 11am by Defence Minister Paul Kehoe TD and Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Vice Admiral Mark Mellett DSM.
The review takes place ahead of the unit’s six month deployment to South Lebanon as part of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Four hundred and fifty troops will rotate to South Lebanon in what is Ireland’s largest overseas deployment to a single mission area.
The personnel travelling with the 114th Infantry Battalion represent 29 counties across Ireland with the main contributing unit being the 72 personnel from the 28th Infantry Battalion based in Finner Camp.
Once deployed, the 114th Infantry Battalion will assume command of the IRISHBATT Area of Operations, taking over from 113th Infantry Battalion who deployed to the mission area last November.
IRISHBATT will be comprised of 450 Irish army, naval and air corps personnel. The unit will also include ten soldiers from the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM).
The unit will form up at 11am in St Eunans College, Letterkenny. This will be followed by a parading of the Unit Colours, the Minister’s address and a ceremonial ‘March Past’.
The Unit will then parade through the town via the route below. The parade will be dismissed at Letterkenny Community Centre.
Image via Donegal County Museum
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