Declan Power is a former Irish Army soldier, defence analyst and writer. [1]
Power originally joined the Army Reserve (then FCÁ), before serving in a variety of roles in the Defence Forces.[ citation needed ] He later had several appointments in Ireland and abroad, including internal security, peacekeeping and anti-terrorism duties. He also attended the Military College and a number of other specialist Defence Force schools and courses.[ citation needed ]
Power's later years of service were spent attached to the Chief of Staff's Branch at Defence Forces Headquarters (DFHQ). He is a graduate of Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin.[ citation needed ]
He wrote a book on the Siege of Jadotville, [2] which was published in 2005 and adapted for film in 2015. [3] He published a further book, titled Beyond the Call of Duty: Heroism in the Irish Defence Forces, in 2010. [4]
As of 2013, Power was a contributing analyst on security and defence matters to a variety of institutions and media, including the Royal Irish Academy's Irish Studies in International Affairs (from the Congo to Mali, 2013).[ citation needed ]
The Irish Army, also known simply as the Army, is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland. The Irish Army has an active establishment of 7,520, and a reserve establishment of 3,869. Like other components of the Defence Forces, the Irish Army has struggled to maintain strength and as of April 2023 has only 6,322 active personnel, and 1,382 reserve personnel. The Irish Army is organised into two brigades.
The Defence Forces are the armed forces of Ireland. They encompass the Army, Air Corps, Naval Service, and Reserve Defence Forces.
The Army Reserve (AR) is the reserve land component of the Irish Defence Forces. It is the second line reserve of the Irish Army. The Army Reserve involves active military service on a part-time basis, and is one of two elements of the Reserve Defence Forces, the other element being the Naval Service Reserve (NSR).
The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between supporters of James II and his successor, William III, it resulted in a Williamite victory. It is generally viewed as a related conflict of the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War.
The United Nations Operation in the Congo was a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in the Republic of the Congo in 1960 in response to the Congo Crisis. ONUC was the UN's first peacekeeping mission with significant military capabilities and remains one of the largest UN operations in size and scope.
Griffith College Dublin (GCD) is one of the longest-established private third level colleges in Dublin, Ireland.
The Reserve Defence Forces (RDF) are the combined reserve components of the Irish Defence Forces. The RDF is organised into the First Line Reserve (FLR) and an active Second Line Reserve. The First Line Reserve is composed of former members of the Permanent Defence Forces (PDF) and, as of May 2023, had a strength of 276. The Second Line Reserve comprises the Army Reserve (AR) with, as of May 2023, a strength of 1,351 out of an established strength of 3,869, and the Naval Service Reserve (NSR), with a strength of 79 out of an established strength of 200.
Portlaoise Prison is a maximum security prison in Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland. Until 1929 it was called the Maryborough Gaol. It should not be confused with the Midlands Prison, which is a newer, medium security prison directly beside it; or with Dunamaise Arts Centre, which was the original Maryborough Gaol built c. 1789.
In the siege of Jadotville in September 1961, part of the Congo Crisis, a small contingent of the Irish Army's 35th Battalion, designated "A" Company, serving as part of the United Nations Operation in the Congo were besieged in the mining town of Jadotville by Katangese forces loyal to the secessionist State of Katanga. The siege took place during the seven-day escalation of a stand-off between ONUC and Katangese forces during Operation Morthor. Although the contingent of 155 Irish soldiers repelled attacks by a 3,000-man Katangese force for five days while an undersized relief force of Irish, Indian and Swedish troops attempted to reach them, they were eventually forced to surrender having run out of ammunition and water. "A" Company was subsequently held as prisoners of war for approximately one month. The Irish forces inflicted approximately 1,300 casualties on the Congolese force, with no deaths amongst "A" Company.
The Directorate of Military Intelligence is the military intelligence branch of the Defence Forces, the Irish armed forces, and the national intelligence service of Ireland. The organisation has responsibility for the safety and security of the Irish Defence Forces, its personnel, and supporting the national security of Ireland. The directorate operates domestic and foreign intelligence sections, providing intelligence to the Government of Ireland concerning threats to the security of the state and the national interest from internal and external sources.
The Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women is a support organisation for ex-service personnel of the Irish Defence Services.
Declan Walsh is an Irish author and journalist who is the Chief Africa Correspondent for The New York Times. Walsh was expelled from Pakistan in May 2013—an experience he wrote about in his 2020 book The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State—but continued covering the country from London.
Thomas Martin Clonan is an Irish senator, security analyst, author and retired Irish Army Captain. He was elected to Seanad Eireann in March 2022 in the 2022 Dublin University by-election.
The Siege of Jadotville is a 2016 action-war film directed by Richie Smyth and written by Kevin Brodbin. An Irish-South African production, the film is based on Declan Power's book, The Siege at Jadotville: The Irish Army's Forgotten Battle (2005), about an Irish Army unit's role in the titular Siege of Jadotville during the United Nations Operation in the Congo in September 1961, part of the Congo Crisis that stretched from 1960 to 1965.
Lieutenant General Sean MacEoin (1910–1998), also known as John McKeown, was an officer in the Irish Defence Forces.
Roger Louis Faulquesa.k.a.René Faulques, was a French Army Colonel, a graduate of the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, a paratrooper officer of the French Foreign Legion, and a mercenary. He fought in World War II, the First Indochina War, the Suez Crisis, the Algerian War, the Congo Crisis, the North Yemen Civil War and the Nigerian Civil War. He is one of France's most decorated soldiers.
On 29 November 1975, a bomb exploded in the arrivals terminal of Dublin Airport, killing a man and injuring nine other people. The Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group from Northern Ireland, claimed responsibility for the bombing. It was one of a series of loyalist bomb attacks in the Republic of Ireland between the late 1960s and mid 1970s.
Operation Rum Punch or Operation Rampunch was a military action undertaken by United Nations peacekeeping forces on 28 August 1961 against the military of the State of Katanga, a secessionist state from the Republic of the Congo in central Africa. UN troops arrested 79 foreign mercenaries and officers employed by Katanga with little conflict.
Patrick Quinlan (1919–1997) was an Irish Army officer who commanded the Irish UN force that fought at the Siege of Jadotville in Katanga in 1961, and surrendered when they ran out of ammunition and other supplies. Despite the initial lack of recognition for the events leading up to the surrender, in the years following Quinlan's death his reputation in Ireland was restored.