Should Ireland expand its indigenous arms industry?

Lucinda Creighton

Minister John Gormely’s proposal that Ireland opt out of the European Defence Agency (EDA) suggests a dire lack of understanding as to how the security and defence system of Europe must operate. It also highlights the truly regrettable fact that Deputy Gormley has not yet discovered that the á la carte membership of the European Union, which was advocated by the Green Party for so many years, is not in Ireland’s short or long term interest. It is interesting to note that the only other European country threatening to withdraw from the EDA is our Euro-sceptic neighbour, the United Kingdom.Firstly, it is important to clarify that the European Defence Agency is not a newly proposed institution. The Agency was established in 2004 and it is fully operational. Thus, the Lisbon Treaty simply clarifies existing practice at Treaty level and gives the EDA a firm legal base.

Since its inception, Ireland has participated in the framework of the European Defence Agency and is represented on the Steering Board of the EDA by the Minister for Defence. The Agency has made significant progress over the past five years, notably in areas such as the development of the EDA Code of Conduct for defence procurement and a Code of Best Practice to ensure transparency in procurement of defence equipment. There are 25 subscribing Member States (including Ireland) to the Code of Conduct.

The European Union, along with all of its Member States, urgently needs to the rapidly changing globalised world, if it is to compete in the new world order. However, Europe is perceived as being weak, and in rapid decline in respect of both population and economic might. Europe needs to improve its own security capacity in light of growing pressures from the rest of the world.

While Europe plays an ever-increasing role in independent peace keeping operations, such as in Kosovo and Chad, its approach to security and defence policy is very much disjointed. The fragmented nature of European defence and military capabilities offers huge potential benefits through concerted action between Member States, if existing opportunities are seized.

The logic for greater cooperation is clear. All E.U. Member States face the same security threats, so they should work together to protect each other. Ireland benefits from this as much as any other State. In addition, the USA can no longer carry the majority of the burden of defence across the globe. Europe has a selfish interest in securing the regions which border it, and therefore the EU needs to pull its own weight. European defence cooperation also allows Europe to pursue its own defence agenda, rather than one laid down by the USA, via NATO.

The European Defence Agency is a strategic corner stone of the common security and defence policy of the E.U. The objective of the EDA is to provide improved security at a reasonable cost. Thus the EDA is not about spending more and more on bigger and bigger armies, as some would have us believe. Rather it is about ensuring greater efficiencies across the EU.

The value of a fully operational European Defence Agency is obvious. We in Europe require best practice and high standards to be applied and adhered to within the arms industry. We require ethical standards which reflect our values and to which we can subscribe. A fully functioning Defence Agency can help provide this.

Moreover, military systems are evolving rapidly across the globe, and Europe must respond. Ireland, as a sovereign nation with its own independent armed defence forces, has a duty and a responsibility to ensure that the best possible weaponry, intelligence and support are afforded to the brave men and women who defend our State and participate in international peace keeping missions. This is dangerous work carried out on behalf of the citizens of Ireland and we, as a nation, have an obligation to ensure the best possible support for our troops.

Armed forces across the EU are increasingly recognising the fact that things have moved from high explosives and military hardware towards communications and computing technology - in other words armed forces in the modern age. There is a clear need to develop our own indigenous expertise in relation to military technology, or “operational sovereignty”. Europe faces a key challenge in that we are so heavily reliant on the United States, who are reluctant to share their technology. This situation is not sustainable and clearly demonstrates the urgent need for Europe to develop its own capabilities, so we can become less reliant on the U.S. This would be the responsible course of action.

This commitment to improving defence capabilities within the EU is not, contrary to certain opinion, in contravention of Ireland’s traditional policy of neutrality. From the very outset of our membership, Ireland was an enthusiastic proponent of political co-operation within the EEC, including in the sphere of defence policy. The precursor to the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) was the European Political Cooperation (EPC), which Ireland embraced in a fulsome fashion, holding the view that it is better to shape policy from within. Ireland’s interests both economically and in terms of the country’s defence needs are inextricably associated with its membership of the EU.

At all stages, Ireland has been willing to actively support closer cooperation on security and defence matters and was central to its development through active participation at Inter Governmental Conferences and in particular when holding the Presidency of the European Council. Indeed the European Defence Agency was established under the Irish Presidency of the the E.U. in 2004.

Any decision of the Irish Government to withdraw from the European Defence Agency would only send the wrong signals to our partners in Europe at a time when Ireland needs Europe most. More importantly, it would signal a remarkable policy departure at Government level, to deliberately deprive members of the Irish Defence Forces access to the best possible intelligence, weaponry and military data, which is so crucial for their own safety and security. This would indeed amount to a sorry legacy of the Green Party’s term in power.