Interesting articles

This looks very bad

No its not indeed, nice to see it been shoved in there faces tho

Technical point of course that neither Portugal or Austria are spending the 2% either, with Portugal circa 1.4%, and Austria just 1%, if they were hitting the 2% both would be at or about the danish level. And given NATO is now pushing for 2.5, both Denmark and Portugal would be moving closer to that 11 billion figure if they were to attempt to meet it.

It would take years to be able to spend 4 billion?

Such is the equipment deficit, you could spend €4 billion in the morning and not make a big impact on current capability gaps.

The issue we have now is spend, or lack of it. Behind the scenes structural changes are great for box ticking and producing glossy documents that shout about your "achievements". The fact is there are no active equipment programs out to tender. They are advancing nothing in terms of glaring capability gaps. Without a minister, the Dept are operating in an oversight vacuum. Sec Gens who need notes to know the size of the helicopter fleet. Looking for pats on the back for handing back unspent budget.

Heads should be rolling at this point.

I agree. I could spend 4 billion by lunchtime today. Say 1 to 1.5 billion on 18 decent jet aircraft plus training spares and ammo. Another 1 billion on 2 fairly basic corvettes. And what do you reckon it would cost for a half a dozen self propelled 155mm artillery pieces? There's most of the money gone!

unless you are throwing the Garda budget in somehow, it’s beyond hard to see how you get anywhere close to 1%, no matter which top line figure you use.

It's unusual they'd let her do a kite flying article in a major newspaper on a Sunday….doubly so since there are 2 articles.

We need to double defence spending to €3bn a year so we can defend ourselves’

The job of Minister of State for European
Union Affairs and Defence comes with the added role of being Ireland’s
designated Minister for the Future in Europe. There’s a minister for the
future in all other EU nations too.

At a recent meeting of Europe ministers
from across the EU, we tried to talk about the future.
We initially focused on green issues —
until my Lithuanian colleague, Simonas Satunas, interrupted to ask were
we talking about a future of Europe in which Ukraine had won, or in
which Ukraine had lost.Germany’s defence minister says Europe must be ready for war before the end of the decade He said these were completely different
scenarios, with completely different prospects for Europe, for
democracy, for public finances, for the functioning of the European
Union.

It stopped the conversation in its tracks
— because he was right. It was the only question we should have been
discussing.
We in Ireland have the luxury of living
as far away from Russia as you can get, while remaining in Europe. From
here, it can be hard to grasp the day-to-day pressure on the eastern
front and what that is going to mean for our participation in
Europe.

We can forget the scale of the conflict
until something horrifying makes the front pages — such as last Monday’s
attack on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in central Kyiv.



The war isn’t limited to Ukraine. It’s clear that the Black Sea region is of more importance to the EU than before.

The Baltic states are dealing with hybrid warfare in the form of
relentless Russian cyber-attacks and weaponised migration, whereby
asylum seekers are taken by bus through Belarus and left at the borders.

Moldova is continuing to face Russian attempts at destabilisation ahead
of its upcoming elections and a referendum in the autumn on the
country’s EU membership.

There is no doubting the sense of urgency in continental Europe.
Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, has said that Europe must
be ready for war before the end of the decade.The fundamental duty of any state is the protection of its territory and its people
We don’t want to have this conversation, but we must. The circumstances
have changed. We have enjoyed a peace dividend from the creation of the
EU — but over the past 10 years, since Russia’s invasion of Crimea, the
security landscape has changed and we have to adapt. As we did with
Covid. As we did with Brexit.

In Europe, the far right is enjoying increasing success and tends to be
sympathetic to Vladimir Putin. Even though France’s National Rally party
failed to win a majority in last weekend’s elections, there is a strong
possibility that its leader, Marine Le Pen, will win the presidency in
2027.

In Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party — which is too far to the right even for Le Pen — is growing in strength.

​It is these changing circumstances in Europe to which we must adapt.

Earlier this month the Dáil voted for several government defence motions
including approval for Ireland to join the European Defence Agency
cyber defence exercises and approval to join an EU defence cooperation
project relating to critical seabed infrastructure protection.




These actions will help build our Defence Forces’ ability to address risks and enhance cooperation with our EU partners.






We spend about €1.2bn (or 0.23pc of GDP) on defence. Nato members have a
target of spending 2pc of GDP, or almost 10 times as much. Or consider
another neutral country, Austria, which spends €3.3bn (or 0.8pc of GDP)
on defence.

Russia, meanwhile, is now spending 7.1pc of GDP on defence — or, more accurately, on attack.

The extensive Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces, published
in 2022, found that the existing level of preparedness and spending
would “leave the Defence Forces unable to conduct a meaningful defence
of the State against a sustained act of aggression from a conventional
military force”.

​In 2022, Ireland took the first major step toward ramping up our defence capabilities.




The Cabinet took the decision to increase defence spending from €1.1bn
to €1.5bn annually by 2028 (at January 2022 prices), the largest
increase in the defence budget in the history of the State.

The Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces laid out three
possible tiers of defence spending, or levels of ambition: the first was
to retain the existing capability, which would leave the State with
woefully inadequate defences; the second (which was ultimately chosen)
allowed for a significant upgrading of capability, including hiring an
additional 2,000 personnel, both civil and military, above the current
staffing of 9,500.The world has changed and will continue to change. We must adapt and react
But there was also the third option — “developing full-spectrum defence
capabilities to protect Ireland and its people to an extent comparable
to similar sized countries in Europe”.

This would include a fleet of at least 12 naval ships plus combat aircraft.

This third option would come at a cost of almost €3bn annually, roughly
double the current target. If that sounds like a lot, consider that
€23.5bn is budgeted for the health service this year.




I believe €3bn is a target we now need to be working steadily toward.
The fundamental duty of any state is the protection of its territory and
its people. This does not mean abandoning neutrality or joining Nato,
it simply means being in a position to defend ourselves.

Last year Denmark cancelled a public holiday that it had had since the
17th century. It was cancelled to raise €427m so it could increase its
defence spending more quickly. Denmark is not on the front line but it
understands the danger.

In Ireland, meanwhile, last year the Government introduced a new public holiday in recognition of Covid.

The world has changed and will continue to change. We must adapt and react accordingly.

​Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is Fine Gael Minister of State with responsibility for EU Affairs and Defence

not sure if it’s paywall Ed or not, but according to the Sunday Times the Gardaí are apparently “alarmed” at the idea of ending ATCP roles like the large cash in transit protection, or the Portlaoise role. Seems it’s impossible that their armed units could be used for such roles….

https://www.thetimes.com/article/b735cdba-75c3-435c-b1db-38aabde37d3b?shareToken=a0d7e136f14655181ef57cc9be703d45