The United Nations Peacekeepers Medal ( ga, An Bonn Chosantóirí Siochána na Náisiún Aontaithe) is awarded to those members of the

Irish Defence Forces The Defence Forces ( ga, Fórsaí Cosanta, officially styled ) derives its origins from the Irish Volunteers. Whilst the Irish for ''Defence Forces'' is , as Ó Cearúil (1999) points out, the Defence Forces are officially styled . is used in ...

or Chaplaincy Service who have served overseas on a United Nation Mission or United Nations Mandated Mission.

Criteria

The UN Peacekeepers Medal was introduced in 1989. Members, both current and former, of the Defence Forces or Chaplaincy Service who have served with a United Nations peacekeeping mission and have earned a United Nations Medal are eligible for award of this Irish Defence Force honour. The UN Peacekeepers Medal may only be awarded once to an individual. The period of qualifying service is waived for those members who are killed or presumed killed while serving overseas. In those cases the medal is awarded posthumously and presented to the next of kin.

Appearance

The medal is round and made of white metal. The obverse of the medal depicts Éire, a

national personification A national personification is an anthropomorphic personification of a state or the people(s) it inhabits. It may appear in political cartoons and propaganda. Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations ...

of Ireland, standing along a shoreline while releasing a dove over the sea. The dove carries an olive branch in its beak. Farther out, on the horizon is a flock of wilde geese in flight. The reverse bears the legend ''UNITED NATIONS FOR PEACE'', at the top in Irish and below in English. The medal is attached to the ribbon by a straight unswiveled bar. The medal hangs from a ribbon wide. The ribbon is composed of a central orange stripe bisected by a stripe of

United Nations blue Varieties of the color blue may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness), or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shad ...

. The orange stripe is bordered by white stripes and the edges are wide green stripes.

References

{{Decorations of Ireland Military of the Republic of Ireland Orders, decorations, and medals of Ireland Awards established in 1989