Irish military aid to France could be in form of more troops to Mali

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said no formal request for a deployment of troops had been received

Fewer than 500 Irish troops are currently overseas on UN missions Pic: Rollingnews.ie

While no formal request from France has yet been received, Ireland could sent troops to Mali to help relieve French troops being redeployed to fight ISIS in Syria.

At a meeting of defence ministers in the wake of Friday’s attacks in Paris, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian officially became the first to invoke the treaty’s mutual defence clause.

Le Drian said that help could come in the form of “either cooperation on ...