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THE TAOISEACH BELIEVES that there will be “pressure” for increases in the European budget for military and defence in the coming years but said that it will not impact Ireland’s neutrality stance.
Micheál Martin was speaking in Cork University Hospital this morning where he opened a new helicopter landing pad. Martin said that a meeting he attended last week in Brussels was focused on defence spending and increasing security capability across the EU.
Last week The Journal revealed that a Ministerial briefing document from the Department of Defence warned incoming Minister Simon Harris that EU “tolerance” and understanding for Ireland’s neutral stance may become less as pressure mounts in Europe for a more robust security posture.
The Taoiseach denied there was frustration among European member States about Ireland’s non-alignment stance but explained that it was important for EU member States to see Ireland’s increasing of defence capability.
He said that Ireland was committed to meeting its promise to increase capability and spending as part of the action plan on Defence arising out of a study which strongly criticised Ireland’s defence structures and resourcing.
“We perhaps don’t realise here, the degree to which countries on the Baltics, Poland, others feel an existential threat from the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the conduct of the Russian war, and also the degree to which Russia is dramatically increasing its military capacities at an extraordinary rate, with figures up to 40% of Russian GDP now (being spent) on the war economy.
“So Europe feels that. And I think the issue for Ireland really is that we do, and we are on the level of ambition two as part of the Commission of Defence Forces, we are investing more in our Defence Forces and in our capability. I think that’s the key issue and I think once that is seen across Europe that we are playing our role,” he said.
Level of Ambition (LOA) Two refers to the degree needed for defence investment – Ireland has selected this from a study of Ireland’s failing security apparatus.
The Government settled on the second option but the State has committed to begin the process of moving to the more dynamic LOA Three once that is complete. LOA Three would essentially bring Ireland up to the level of other small nations such as Denmark and neutral Austria.
Ireland spends 0.2% of GDP on Defence – which is the lowest in Europe. The small island of Malta spends 0.4% and the Austrian government spends 0.9%. The EU average is 1.6%.
Poland is the highest spender on 3.3% with Nordic block countries like Denmark and Finland, which Ireland is aligned with politically, spending 2%.
“This is an area we cannot be complacent about,” he said.
Martin added that Ireland has participated in common security and defence for a number of years but that there is mounting pressure.
“I anticipate that within the European Union over the next number of years, the percentage of the budget that would be allocated to defence and military capability is going to increase, even though it will remain a national competence and a national issue.
“I do anticipate that there will be pressure for increases, but that will not undermine Irish military neutrality that fundamentally is non-alignment, non-membership,” he added.
In response to a question whether there are “frustrations” among EU States about Ireland’s neutral stance he said: “Not necessarily. I think it’s more around the capability question. In other words, investment in capability is the key issue.”
The Taoiseach added that it was critical to build a capability to be able to operate in conjunction with other European armies – known as interoperability in military speak.
“It’s a no brainer for safety of our own troops. Every army needs a weapon, every army needs ammunition.
“Some people get worried [and say] ‘Oh, why are you spending all this money?’
“You do need to equip an army. We’re part of KFOR [a NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo] and various peacekeeping missions and that’s why – we do have to work with people,” he added.
The Taoiseach’s comments come after Paul Murphy of People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy heavily criticised the Government’s plan to end the so-called Triple Lock.
The measure means that Ireland can only deploy troops with a combination of a UN resolution, Government approval and a vote in the Dáil.
In a statement last night Murphy, criticised the plans and called for a greater focus on neutrality.
“Instead of war mongering and spending vast sums on militarisation, we need to defend what is left of Irish neutrality and focus our resources on building the homes, the infrastructure and the public services that we desperately need.
“It is critically important that the Government attempt to remove the Triple Lock is defeated. We may not have the numbers in the Dáil to do this, but working with political parties on the left, the trade unions and progressive civil society we can mobilise vast numbers in the streets to face the government down. People Before Profit public representatives and members will work tirelessly to this end,” he said.
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This government cannot be trusted.They continue to undermine at every opportunity,our historical position as a neutral country.
@Patrick Westman: Ukrainian tried to be neutral and how is that going. ?
@thomas molloy: no they didn’t that why the war began!
@Patrick Westman: Sweden had a historical position of neutrality for over 200 years. Being precious about a policy is one thing. Refusing to accept/adapt to changed circumstances is something else. Sticking your head in the sand is ill-advised. Ask the Swedish and the Finns for further details.
@Patrick Westman: where and when?
@thomas molloy: joining a military organisation that was set up to outright challenge Russia isn’t neutral stance.
@thomas molloy: The second Ukraine tried to join NATO, Russia invaded as they would be a threat. So if Ukraine actually decided to stay neutral, they would have been ok.
@joe moody: Yes, they did. They gave up their entire nuclear arsenal for security guarantees from Russia and the US. Putin laughed it off and invaded a few years later.
@Joe Willis: Why did so many former Soviet states join NATO as soon as they could? They feared Russian irredentism. They were proved right, too.
@honey badger: Finland literally borders Russia, with Sweden bordering Finland. We are surrounded by NATO countries, and the USA across the Atlantic. We couldn’t be further from Russia or China as a European nation. If China or Russia ever attempted to do something from our Weat coast, the US would know about it before they even make the trip, and the US would patrol here first. This scenario has about a 0.001% chance of happening anyway.
The majority of Irish people are in favor of neutrality. Thankfully the lunatic warmongers in here are a minority
@Joe Willis: Criminal naivety. Someone else will defend us? True neutrality requires the actual ability to enforce such a position. See Switzerland for details.
@Joe Willis: Georgia didn’t try NATO and Russia invaded them, so your point is laughable.
@thomas molloy: Fully agree with you. Russia, China, North Korea and others don’t consider Ireland as Neutral. We allow American military Aircraft to fly into our airport and airspace along with UK fighter jets. So we’re not neutral. We actually need our own high altitude fighter jets to protect us against terrorist hijackers and Russian aircraft.
@Marcus Suridius: is it or laughable is it? Is it not correct that they attempted to join NATO? Which resulted in Russia invading them? Are you a fact denier
@honey badger: we don’t have the manpower or money to defend ourselves. We might hold off for an hour if we spent big money on our military (money that we don’t have). Give me one reason why the UK wouldn’t defend Ireland. If Russia invaded Ireland it would be purely for the strategic position of our country. Do you think the UK would like Russian nuclear weapons next door? There is also an area called Northern Ireland. If anything like this ever happened, an attack on Ireland would be an attack on the entire island. Which would bring the UK into it anyways.
@Joe Willis: Neutrality is a block to full sovereignty and a united Ireland.
@Patrick Westman: how neutral was Ireland during WW2, e.g. returning allied servicemen and interning Germans?
@thomas molloy: Ireland will never be fully sovereign as long as it’s in the EU. So Neutrality has nothing to do with our sovereignty. It also has nothing to do with preventing a United Ireland so stop talking absolutely tripe.
@Darth O’Leary: “The majority of Irish people are in favor of neutrality”. How do you know this? What defense systems do we have? Does our defense depends on others? If so, who? And what does that dependency say about our ‘neutrality’? And your spelling of ‘favor’ leads me to suspect that you are not Irish?
@Joe Willis: it’s none of Russia’s business what it’s sovereign neighbours decide to join. Every ex Moscow vassal state sought protection from russian violence and aggression..
@Terry Brophy: By your logic it’s none of our business that Russia which is a sovereign nation invaded a sovereign nation. Who are we to tell a sovereign nation in this case Russia what it can and can’t do?. You can’t have it both ways.
@Joe Willis:not correct Joe US orchestrated
regime change in Ukraine led to Russian invasion .
@Joe Willis: bs putin wants the donbas for oil gas and earth valuable minerals
@John Reynolds: he did, and Ukraine putting in their NATO request was the go ahead for him.
@Ger Whelan: If you mean NATO, that was set up after WW2 so that it could never happen again.
@Joe Willis: And the invasion of Crimea meant nothing then! Putin has said for many years that the USSR must be reformed and he is going to do it!
@Joe Willis: Russia is one issue, there are others!
@Darth O’Leary: Agreed but that does not change the fact we need to spend mor money on our defense forces!
@thomas molloy: embarrassing comment! Clueless
Cool let us know along with all the people demanding we increase our spending etc when this will include a pay increase for current DF members so they can actually be retained
No point buying fancy tanks and missle systems when you don’t have anyone willing to stay round long enough to use them cos the pay and conditions are so bad
@Luke Littler: But sure your English so you have the British army
@Brian D’Arcy: it’s the British Navy who are largely keeping our western seaboard militarily safe, let that sink in for a minute. We are freeloading in terms of national security.
@Darius Guppy: From whom? If you believe Russia is about to invade us then you’re a muppet
We cant afford this. Does the EU know how much it costs to run the OPW?
That’s a fair morning’s work, cutting a ribbon for a flat piece of concrete with a H painted on it.
War planes and arms going through Shannon isn’t very neutral
@Joe Sweeny: Do you mean Aeroflot.
@thomas molloy: The medium- and long-range passenger- and cargo aircraft of Aeroflot also part of the strategic air transport reserve, ready to provide immediate airlift support to the armed forces. Short-range aircraft and helicopters were available for appropriate military support missions.
@Joe Sweeny: to be fair we also regularly let Russian submarines in our waters too just to balance things up.
FFG want to join the Nato manufactured wars wonder why Our Neutrality is history
Get your kids ready to fight and give their lives for American corporations and oil companies Well done FFG voters nice one
@Kevin O Brien: nobody want to join NATO get a grip
@Dermot Blaine: already in motion the weapons companies lobbying of FFG almost complete Dermot
Yeah right
Pressure is fine. EU putting pressure on Israel to halt war crimes for the last 12 months. I think if Israel can hold out against EU pressure for something so serious then our great leader can withstand any pressure to increase our military spending i.e. buying stuff from Ursula’s friends in the military industry
We believe you Micheál…
The only thing that the Government of Ireland stay Neutral on is the Citizens of the Country. They stayed Neutral during the storm with their pittance money.
Other than that, The Government of Ireland have their hands stuck on International affairs that don’t concern us like Donald Turnip. Americans elected him and now they are regretting it.
@Tommy: How do you know what Americans regret or not. Are you a mind reader for 350m people. More woke lefty nonsense being drip fed to you by the likes of matt Cooper and the dolly’s at rte
Don’t worry. Somebody else will patrol and protect our waters and cables……
@chris gaffney: we have the Cork fishermen
@chris gaffney: they can develop AI and have self driving navy ships patrplling cos they are struggling to man the current fleet we have…..
@chris gaffney: protect them from who
@Ger Whelan: Zimbabwe
@chris gaffney: Just a little clarification, they are not our cables. They are belonging to some big business, probably American.
@Donal Ronan: they belong
@Donal Ronan: So not important to Ireland????
@Donal Ronan: They carry our communications to the US and to the rest of the world. Ireland as the first land mass on this side of the atlantic is an essential part of the communications network for the entire northern hemisphere!
Are we even a proper, independent nation state if we can’t even defend ourselves and depend on other countries to do it for us? Time to have a proper grown up discussion on this, without the ‘they want to join NATO nonsense’ polluting the conversation.
@Dermot Blaine: Defend ourselves from who? Russia, The US, China, the UK. Taking NATO out of the question, A small nation like Ireland has not got the capability to build a large enough defence force to successfully defend this nation. We don’t have enough people for starters to fill the small defence force we currently have. And 2% of our GDP isn’t enough to buy the enough to buy warships, fighter jets, battle tanks etc. please inform us how you purpose this country raise the money and personal need to build a modern army to defend ourselves from any possible attack?. Remember not to mention NATO.
@Jack Moss: NATO has existed since WW2. Please count the amount of wars since WW2. Joining NATO won’t stop wars. It’ll bring Ireland into wars. Every member of NATO ended up putting ground troops in Iraq after the US and UK illegally invaded it. We shouldn’t be part of that
@Ger Whelan: Just to remind you that Iceland has no army or navy, just a coast guard with 4 patrol vessels, 1 plane and 3 helicopters, 200 staff, and zero military spending, but despite this, it is a member of NATO since 1949.
Iceland military spending/defense budget for 2022 was $0.00B, a NAN% decline from 2021.
Iceland military spending/defense budget for 2021 was $0.00B, a NAN% decline from 2020.
Poor Macrotrends give and error when tyring to calculate the defence spending because it’s zero.
@Ger Whelan:
Finland, done quite well, beat back the Russians in WW2.We need half a dozen Saab JAS 39 Gripens .
@Dan Murphy: So a half dozen Saab had 39 Gripens all we need to protect this country? Really I’ve heard it all now. Any reason Ukraine hasn’t been given a dozen of them to defend itself from Russia?
@Jack Moss: European Peace for 99 years? LOL! The Ottoman Empire was involved in at least a dozen wars, as was Russia. The Greek war of independence rumbled on for years, to be followed by a civil war. The Italian states were constantly having pops off each other. And the Crimean War turned into a quagmire along the same lines as WW1!! 99 years of peace???
@Ger Whelan:
We need them to protect our airspace, not go to war, And stop our dependence on the RAF.
@Ger Whelan: better paid politicians by the buckets than elsewhere in this world. Same with other government bodies. Millions of our taxes to “jobs well done by the boys” supposedly. I would say it’s a frightening figure all tallied up together yearly. How many armored cars for 1 politicians excess??? Tank, patrol boat, wages…..???? Seriously, my opinion only, neutrality, you might have gotten away with it it in 45 but if it really happened this war to come today, who here wants to be a collaborator and rat his own country folk out to a Russian shitebagg?
@peter willekens: example: occupied counties in Ukraine…
He’s right. I’m very happy to pay more taxes if it keeps Putin away from our shores.
@Chop Chop: Putin is thousands of miles from our shores. He also has no interest in us. All we are to Russia is collateral damage should they ever nuke the UK
@Chop Chop: they should start with removing 30 russian “ambassadors and officers” which are based in the russian embassy. Why are there so many of them here??
@Ger Whelan: totally false. Ireland is the best place to have fsb agents accessing uk , us and eu from Ireland
@Lei tatt: Sure if you say so. No US, UK, Chinese, spy’s working in Ireland?. Also remember when it was out “ally” the US taping EU nations leaders phones?. But sure hey let’s just point at Russia and ignore the rest.
@Ger Whelan: hahaha usual russian what aboutery nonsense. Go back to your box comrade Ivan.
@Lei tatt: None of what I said is “whataboutry” it’s all fact. But hey you keep burying your head in the sand pointing at Russia like a good lad.
@Jack Moss: what has the 6 counties got to do with this? It’s a whole other country so nothing to do with This country.
@Ger Whelan: nice try comrade Ivan , better luck next time. Try harder
@Lei tatt: typical anonymous fake account, always resort to childish name calling when you can’t keep up with conversation
@Ger Whelan: typical russian bot , called for fake account likes. You are making it too obvious comrade Ivan. Dont know why they are paying for such an obvious kremlin troll.
@Lei tatt: And there it is. I knew you wouldn’t let the side down and bring out the paid troll bit. Jayses Putin is living rent free in your head.
@Ger Whelan: jeez comrade Ivan its 22:30 in moscow , shouldnt your european media trolling shift be ending? Or you doing overtime? Every post of your and fake bot likes makes it so obvious lol. Your supervisor comrade Dimitri should fine you for being so obvious.
@Lei tatt: it’s 19.43 here in Orville road. Still plenty of time left on my shift. I finish at 22:00 I’ll see you at the gates as I leave. Surely a brave troll like yourself isn’t hiding behind a keyboard and is outside the gate protecting your country from us? Or is the keyboard the only place you are brave?
@Ger Whelan: sleep well comrade Ivan. Say hi to the war criminal putin. His days are hopefully coming to an end real soon.
€20m gifted to Hamas, Ireland is funding Islamic terrorist organisations, we are no longer a neutral country
@Barry Spoon: Nonsense.
@Barry Spoon: Absolutely right Barry. The evidence that UNRWA is an arm of Hamas is overwhelming. The Israeli hostages were held in their buildings, members of UNRWA took part in the October 7th massacre and the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union was a senior Hamas commander. We are literally handing over taxpayer money to a prescribed terrorist organisation. It’s a thundering embarrassment.
@William Jennings: absolutely, that is very concerning
@William Jennings: I that worse or better than a “Thundering Disgrace”?
Neutrality isn’t worth a pigs ear if am aggressor decides so. Belgium shows that in WW1 and there are other examples from history. If an aggressor decided to attack ireland, always a feasibility given our position geographically, who is going to save us. Those who scream ‘neautral’ the loudest.
I don’t know why this government continues to pretend that we are a “neutral” country within the realm of foreign affairs. They have repeatedly sided with bad actors across the world. They’ve taken an explicitly anti-Israel and pro-Hamas position which has been nothing short of disgraceful. Harris and Martin’s incessant attacks on Israel have crossed the line into antisemitism. They also have been cozying up to China and have refused to criticise their actions in Hong Kong and the fact that they put 3 million Uyghurs in concentration camps. They’ve also sided with Cuba over America with regard to the justified embargo against the brutal Communist regime and repeatedly condemned it, despite the fact that medicine and food are exempt and any other country can still trade with them.
@William Jennings: You are confusing anti Israeli government beliefs and antisemitism.
There re many Jewish people in Israel who are against their government actions. Are they anti themselves as well!
Common defence is simply common sense, ideally we need to join NATO as well as increasing defence spending to at least EU average, but should be more due to the need to catch up
@Johnny Wilson: No thanks to NATO. Feel free to move to a NATO member state if you want to be a part of NATO. Ireland is best off out of a alliance that’s looking for wars
The Taoiseach talking about increased spending on defence. As long as I’m alive, defence has never been an issue for the general public to worry about. Just a heads up to anyone who mightn’t realise the wheel is slowly turning, courtesy of the nut job Americans elected.
@Fiona: But but but Ireland is the soft back belly of Europe and Putin is going to invade as soon as he takes Ukraine. We’re definitely next.
@Fiona: I know, but Biden’s gone now and Trump will sort it out.
@Ger Whelan: nobody will initially stop it from happening until it’s done, then you will see some true neutral fighting on the ground when all send their troops to get a bit of experience on Irish neutral ground. Then mehole will decide that 18 year old can be called up to help defend the country….. Seems familiar?
@peter willekens: Nice bit of fantasy. But the reality is Russia hasn’t got the capability to invade and occupy Ireland. It’s thousands of miles away with many hostile nations between us. It will need the vast majority of its navy to keep a supply line one and to patrol our coast. It’ll also need thousands of men power and equipment to set up a border to stop free movement between us and Northern Ireland (NATO). But you keep sitting in fear if you like
Can’t hide behind neutrality forever will have to step and be counted sooner or later, it’s becoming embarrassing.
If mehole told me the sky was blue, I’d have to look out the window to check. Can’t be trusted.
Give us NI back and we’ll consider it
@FoxyBoiiYT: Not sure them North Brits are that neutral you know
Never understood that Kosovo thing. We basically send irishmen and irishwomen defend a country stolen to its rightful inhabitants.
Would we look kindly to Russia for sending troops to defend the english population of Northern Ireland against the irish republicans?
@Ryan Hulin (ryansjourneys): Read the UN charter. That should explain what UN troops do
We should invest in defence heavily in cyber defence.. we have been attacked and we should have ability to retaliate, this could make us have the power to make us not worth messing with
It’s not rocket science!
We have a massive influx of people seeking asylum, and an equally massive deficit in the armed forces. Why not offer something like 5-10 years military service in return for Irish citizenship (pending background check). Financially, it works out cheaper to house & pay a member of the defense forces than to house and pay an asylum seeker. It also gives education & employment opportunities to any immigrants who want it, whilst bolstering our security forces.
We no longer have an army navybor air Corp up spending on what chuck sake
Why do we need or have an army?. As soon as an EU army is proposed the Irish government as well as the army shiit their pants and rule it out. Our pigs in government cannot under any banner insist we are neutral.So I ask again..why do we have an army?
@Gerry Lamont: The need for a Permanent Defence Force is written into the constitution.
have your say