Page 19 - Signal Summer 2018

| SECURITY DEBATE |

we are arguing for also requires the support of Fianna
Fáil and I want to recognise the contribution especially
of their former spokesperson, Deputy Lisa Chambers,
on the recent PESCO debate. Making progress requires
broader political support - something I fully accept.

In brief, we have set out some areas of potential policy
development in our document.
• We believe that Ireland needs to engage fully with
the European Defence Union project and shape it
according to our own requirements and traditions.
While I see neither a European Army or a mutual
defence pact coming from the discussions, we
should be open to consider such an outcome European leaders at the signing of the PESCO agreement last year.
based on its merits. I’ve made it clear that any have at present - from the Gardaí and from the
change on mutual defence would require a ref- Defence Forces.
erendum. It’s worth pointing out that we already • On cyber security, we want a proper strategy
have a mutual assistance clause in the EU Treaties. working with our EU partners and making sure
• We think it right to look again at the triple lock. Yes, that all government departments are linking in,
it is a legal construct to guarantee maximum buy- along with the private sector. We are certainly
in before troop deployment, but it allows our own exposed on the FDI front.
security and defence policy be held up by potential • We have also made the case for a national security
vetoes in the UN Security Council by Russia or council to report and assess the threat analysis
China, for example. Changing “UN authorisation” and bringing together many actors from the public
to “UN authorisation or EU council decision” with sector, NGOs, acedemics, political parties.
added Oireachtas oversight may help to clarify the • Also let’s stop pretending that we don’t have a
issue. defence industry here in Ireland. We do. Vital con-
• Our commitment to peace-keeping, humanitar- nections in supply lines and technology for the
ian relief and the Petersberg tasks must remain a defence industry are here in Ireland and we need
cornerstone of our international footprint. But we to recognise that. Anyway, other neutral member
have to remember that increasingly the UN seeks states like Austria or Sweden have substantial
international partners, like the EU, to act on behalf defence industries. The potential for innovation
of the international community. And as we are - especially if the European Defence Fund which
seeing in Operation Sophia, the EU has legitimate may have funding of €13 billion - should be real-
interests in taking joint actions to protect its exter- ised for our advantage as well as other member
nal border in the Mediterranean. Could the same states.
be said for the most westerly border of the EU in • And finally, we are prospering a major review of the
the Atlantic? bilateral cooperation between Ireland and the UK
• We argue that Defence Forces personnel should as a consequence of Brexit. Our cooperation with
be somewhere north of the White Paper commit- the UK in terms of security is vital.
ment of 9,500. The constant turnover in numbers
and the issue of the reserve mean that obtaining a My final word is on neutrality. In our document, we
capacity of 10,000 personnel will be a challenge. describe how the concept of neutrality might be rede-
Yes pay is important but so is capital investment fined. Before that, we should try to define what neutrality
and that is where pooling equipment, shared means in today’s world. It seems to me that for some,
maintenance programmes and better procure- neutrality is defined as to what we are against, rather
ment at a European level can be beneficial. While then what we are for. Would it be better to describe
the 2% GDP spending on defence is not realistic Ireland as non-aligned militarily or as an independent
for Ireland, we need to increase it well beyond the non-nuclear State?
current 0.3%.
• How we interpret and use intelligence is crucial The neutrality debate is largely academic and theoreti-
in countering new threats. We have argued for cal. And we should not be sidetracked by the debate.
the establishment of a central intelligence unit, Do I believe are we heading in the direction of a common
advising government and working with EU stake- EU Army, no I don’t. But we are facing the reality that
holders. This would bring together the intelligence Member States want to do more in the area of security
gathered from the two branches of intelligence we and defence, and we need to be part of that debate.

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