Ireland is a member of the Partnership for Peace program, and while it has declared that it has no interest in NATO membership, the member nations of NATO all have great respect for the Irish military. Why? Because Ireland has more peacekeeping experience than any other country. Its troops have been involved in 37 UN peacekeeping missions (more than 46,000 individual tours) since 1958. The Irish Army actually runs the UN's school for peacekeepers, at Curragh. Ireland trains most of its troops (at least partly) as military police and its troops have shown "unusual skill" in dealing with mobs of angry civilians in Kosovo and Bosnia.--Stephen V Cole