There will be a run for the charity Goal, welfare packages from home and a big dinner, but duties will continue on Christmas Day for the hundreds of Irish soldiers serving as peacekeepers in southern Lebanon this year. Taoiseach Micheál Martin visited Camp Shamrock – also known as UN base UNP 2-45 – on Saturday, to wish a merry Christmas to the peacekeepers and to express his appreciation. Photograph: Sally HaydenDevon Roche (40), from Cork, says it is his third Christmas away from home and first away from his children, six-year-old Jack and three-year-old Ben. On Christmas Day, he plans to get up early for a run, then do a video call with his family and “see how everyone’s getting on” ahead of Christmas dinner. As a message for those at home, he says: “With missing Christmas this year, we’ll make up for it next year.”

Source: The Irish Times December 24, 2025 06:25 UTC