Transport Aircraft

It has been 10 days and this comment is still here. I have managed to laugh at this every single day as well. 🤣🤣🤣

That’s ok, I can still look at your post and laugh at its desperation.

their RF R&D section is massive, in Ireland….

this research is subsidised by the Irish Gov through tax breaks, and they get to put it in various military and civil products around the world…without Ireland getting a sniff of profits..

These elements should definitely count towards GDP contribution calculation, if Ireland were ever to look at joining NATO.

Join?

I don't think we should either, but the longer governments of this State fail to take the defence and security obligations of being non-aligned seriously, the more likely we'll end up being bounced into it by a serious geopolitical destabilisation and being left with no other options to protect the nation.

On the other point, we don't use GDP for anything in this Country. It is a false metric compared to other Countries

We use GNI*, as a marker of domestic economic performance, with the skewed elements that come with FDI stripped out.

GNI* for 2023 in Ireland was €291 billion.

2% of that would be €5.82 billion. A pie in the sky figure of course, but actually a figure that looks fair for how far behind defence and security is in this Country.

If 5.82 billion at 2023 prices was guaranteed for 10 years, the State could have a fit for purpose defence force, cyber protection apparatus and a civilian state security and intelligence agency of the highest standard. Lets call it LoA4!

What about the EU?

Is it? Why?

Successive EU treaties have only been passed in this State because of a succession of exemptions, opt-outs, codices, protocols, statements and any other political expendient you can think of, to these provisions.

And so, by our own doing, they don't really apply to us. We are guaranteed NOTHING.

And yes, we have recently joined several PESCO-EDA projects as participants rather than observers, but again, these are very specific and defined.

And so, I think this undescribed tacit belief among many in Ireland that "sure we'd be grand, the Yanks and the French and even the Brits would have our back" must end.

In the World of today, we can't say what will face us at the end of this year, let alone in 5 of 10 years.

How confident would you feel in the cohesion of the EU and NATO in a scenario of; Trump in the White House, Le Pen in the Elyseé, Alice Weidel and the AfD in a German federal coalition, Meloni, Wilders, Orban, Nehammer all in various aspects of power?

Cos while I think its very unlikely they will all be in power coincidentally, or even ever, the possibility doesn't make me feel too confident at all about our defence and security position.

When China and Russia get their ports on Western Africa sometime in the next 5 years…. the location argument goes out the window and the Atlantic is fair game…

Irish waters become a safe haven for those navies to navigate as Ireland can do zero about it…

EU mutual defence has that much oomf, Sweden and Finland didn't have to join NATO.

But what about the jaysus transport aircraft??????

Not for their reactive defence benefit though, they were being left out of the strategic plans, it was going to happen eventually, Ukraine was the catalyst to speed it up…

A country with such a vast coastline, their opt out clause came back to bite them.

From an EU defence perspective, they only had input at civilian level and were in a position where any EU North Sea and Baltic operations would go ahead without their input (not necessarily direct, or any, aggression to anyone) but any proactive defence measures, they wouldn't have been included.

So they were in a position where they could have potential foreign units patrolling in/near their waters and airspace on operations they weren't included in.

From a reactive standpoint, there is still too much bureaucracy in the EU to have a reactive force like a NATO article 5 call.

Hence why Sweden and Finland went NATO.

When Russia/China get ports in the Atlantic, Irish EEZ waters have potential to heat up South China sea style…

well yes, you're leaving out the part where I mentioned the threat to our EEZ, which China has already expressed interest in for potential oil and mineral deposit investigation. Which is also one of the least protected EEZ's on the planet…

But hey, you work away paraphrasing for effect.

Hopefully there's never a need to join NATO, but the current EU red tape doesn't exactly posture solid security either.