Ireland’s lack of military capacity weakens European security

Sir, – It is no surprise UK politicians have a jaundiced view of Irish defence and security capacity (“‘A bunch of freeloaders’: Increasing UK pressure on Ireland to invest in defence”, February 16th).

Our performance in this field of policy has, since independence, been abysmal. In 1937, in the context of reassuring Britain as to the security of her western flank on handover of the Treaty ports, the then minister for defence instructed that plans be drawn up for the defence of the State against an enemy force of 50,000 troops supported by naval forces. Key planning assumptions were that “a special threat to neutrality from Great Britain does not arise” and that “the Border does not constitute a special problem as regards defence”. Needless to say the plans were never resourced and we drifted into the “Emergency” utterly unprepared. History is in serious danger of being repeated.

The UK and our EU partners rightly expect us to take the security of these islands and Europe seriously. Quite apart from any legitimate expectation they might have that we contribute proportionately to our collective security, as a self declared “military neutral” we have an obligation under international law to take appropriate military measures to ensure that our “territory is not used in any way by one belligerent to the disadvantage of another”. Territory in this context includes air space and territorial seas.

The Atlantic alliance is no longer fully underpinned by the US, and our neighbours and trading partners are increasingly worried that Ireland’s lack of capacity, particularly in naval and air capabilities, constitutes an enormous weakness in European security. One can only hope that Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee was in receipt of a few home truths at the recent Munich conference, and that she can convince her colleagues to take action. – Yours, etc,