Ireland’s sleepwalking on security and defense poses a strategic risk for Europe

Our "strategic scrounging" has run out of road.

My column in The Currency today.

Russia’s belligerence towards Ukraine has put us on notice of a fundamentally different geopolitical situation in Europe.

War by other means is already underway. Russia looks set to weaponise Europe’s dependence on Russian gas to turn the screw on Germany in particular. 

This is the context within which Russia’s war games off the Irish coast, and incursions into our airspace by Russian bombers in recent years should be understood.

Ireland is the backdoor to the European security theatre, which makes it “a significant piece on the geopolitical chessboard”, as Irish international relations expert Edward Burke said recently.

Russia’s escalation of activity suggests a growing belief in Moscow that it has found a “European weak link, right next to NATO’s second and third most important member states.”

Ireland’s inexcusable lack of preparedness for this new geopolitical reality was revealed in Hugh O'Connell's report in The Sunday Independent that the draft Defence Forces Commission report acknowledges that the Irish army “is not equipped, postured or realistically prepared to conduct a meaningful defence of the State against a full spectrum force for any sustained period”

It was encouraging to hear Minister for Defense Simon Coveney express his hope that the commission’s report would trigger a fundamental debate about how we financially resource military and defence requirements.

However, the growing multiplication of external threats that demand a transformation of our strategic capabilities has yet to register in public debate.

When he became Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar enhanced direct political oversight of security by setting up a Cabinet Committee on Security combining Cabinet members and officials. For reasons that have not been explained, this was abandoned by the current government.

One can only imagine the political storm if the government were to drop cabinet committees on health, housing or the economy.

The signalling that security is not a priority matters.

It amplifies public complacency, tarnishes our international reputation, and promotes the unspoken policy of outsourcing our national security that is not the approach of a state that aspires to be a serious player in the world.

Our “strategic scrounging” on defence and security as it was described in a recent report by the European Council on Foreign Relations has run out of road.

As the EU develops its strategic autonomy and defence capabilities, it is reasonable that it will expect greater commitment from Ireland in return for the solidarity demonstrated to us throughout Brexit.

Alongside the other expansions in the frontiers of the state in a post-pandemic world, the need to properly resource and build our strategic capabilities will impose another fiscal burden on Paschal Donohoe

It is one he should not resist.

The Currency is Ireland’s leading business, finance, economics and public policy publication and I am proud to be a contributor. If you are not already a subscriber, I strongly recommend you consider becoming one. It will give you an edge in understanding the shifting power dynamics in Europe’s fastest-changing country.