Ireland needs to boost its “pitiful” level of defence spending, Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson has said.
The member of parliament for East Belfast said Ireland has relied on the UK for defence for “too long” and its navy is “not worth mentioning”.
This week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is due to take part in an European Union leaders’ summit that will involve discussions of security and defence.
Tánaiste Simon Harris has indicated he is to introduce draft legislation to amend Ireland’s “triple lock” on the deployment of Defence Forces peacekeepers overseas.
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He insisted the proposed changes will not impact Ireland’s military neutrality.
During a press conference on Monday, Mr Robinson was asked if Ireland needed to contribute more towards the defence of Europe.
He said: “They have to put more money in their own defence,” adding that for “far too long”, the Government has “rested on the defence of the United Kingdom”.
“They have no radar cover. They have no air support. They have a navy not worth mentioning.
“They can’t defend themselves, let alone anybody else.”
Mr Robinson said that Ireland had a “requirement and a need to step up to the plate” before thinking about international contributions about “actually defending their own nation”.
[ Government to move this week on changing triple lockOpens in new window ]
He said: “They will talk in the next number of weeks about how proud they are and, in the Dáil, they are now considering legislative change to remove the triple lock which prevents the Irish Republic from ever deploying their armed forces.”
Mr Robinson said, however, that the Government needs to “get back to basics” and to provide resources to “allow them to do anything other than what they are doing currently because, so far, it has been pretty pitiful”. – PA
