The EU is offering cheap money to drag Ireland’s defences into the dangerous new world

The one lesson the Government should take from the security headache posed by the arrival of nearly 50 foreign leaders in Dublin this week is that it needs to come up with a new approach to the question of security and defence – and do it quickly.

Over the past couple of years, Ministers have been making noises about the need for a serious upgrade in our defence capabilities. But in the recent budget, all we saw was a modest increase in spending. The result is we are still allocating a derisory proportion of national resources to security and defence.

To compound the lack of budgetary investment, the Government has refused so far to take advantage of the €150 billion EU fund, called the Security Action for Europe (Safe) initiative, that provides low-interest, long-term loans for investment in the latest defence technology.

Having inexplicably opted out of availing of a loan when the fund was launched over a year ago, Ireland has a new opportunity to join the scheme. Minister for Defence Helen McEntee has expressed interest in exploring it, but so far nothing has happened.

It appears the inertia that has paralysed so much of Government decision-making is getting in the way of taking what is cheap money to finally drag our defences into the modern, increasingly dangerous world.

Given the way the Ukrainian response to the Russian invasion has changed the nature of war, it is long past time for a serious plan about how to defend this country from attack.

This is even more pertinent in the light of hybrid warfare that has seen enemies of European democracy turn their attention to disrupting civilian life. The recent taking-down of Irish supermarket fridges, the disruption of air travel and the hoax threats to schools are just tasters of what is likely to happen in the year ahead.

Former British government security adviser Paddy McGuinness had some interesting things to say about this at the West Cork History Festival during the summer. He suggested Ireland’s future defence needs should be met by serious investment in next-generation drones and other high-technology equipment rather than acquiring outdated fighter jets or warships.

He argued that as a country with a thriving technology sector, Ireland was well placed to take advantage of the rapid advances in military technology. “Late entrants often have an advantage over pioneers. They don’t have to inherit yesterday’s technology and approach,” McGuinness said.

He pointed out that the traditional military powers in Europe, such as the UK and France, faced legacy issues because they have long investment in military equipment that is increasingly threatened by cheap and deadly drones.

McGuinness, former UK deputy national security adviser under David Cameron and Theresa May, with a particular focus on relations with Ireland, emphasised that the geography of security has fundamentally changed in just a few years. “The old geography was borders, coastlines, airspace and territorial waters. The new geography is cloud infrastructure, data, artificial intelligence, access to space, undersea cabling, energy, critical infrastructure. Because of that, Ireland has become really significant in a way it has not been previously,” he added.

There is increasing worry among our European neighbours at Ireland’s failure to take serious action to monitor the activity of Russia and other potential enemies in the waters around our coast that hold 75 per cent of the cables that link Europe to the US. Micheál Martin said this week that Ireland was in talks to use drone technology from Ukraine for maritime security, which at least indicates awareness of the need for action.

The potential to develop a modern defence industry in Ireland to protect our own sovereignty as well as that of our European neighbours is there. We already have the expertise in the technology sector – all that is needed is Government commitment and money.

The money is there in the Safe programme, but there is not enough sign of the required urgency in the Government response. The danger is it will require a major incident such as the taking-down of the gas interconnectors to Scotland, which would paralyse the electricity grid, to prompt an urgent response, and by then it would be too late.

One sign of the woefully complacent approach to the country’s security is that we don’t even have a minister with responsibility solely for defence. The department was tagged on to McEntee’s foreign affairs portfolio but, given the pressures of her main department, she can have very little time to devote to the area.

In any case, foreign affairs and defence often have conflicting priorities, not simply in the annual competition to get the biggest possible spending allocations, but in their approaches to dealing with the wider world, where choices have to be made between the competing demands of diplomacy and security.

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The first step to show we are serious about defence would be the appointment of a full minister to run the department. It would need to be accompanied by a worked-out defence and security strategy. The threat is urgent but there is little evidence the Government or the public is taking it seriously.