About three years ago Russian warships showed up near Irelandʼs coast doing strange exercises right above important under-sea data cables (which wasnt a coincidence at all)
The incident showed how weak Irelands defense really is: with just 6 small-sized ships and no real air-force to speak of‚ the country cant protect its own waters. Its quite strange for a well-off nation thats so important for EU data infrastructure
The countryʼs military status comes from its long-standing position — after getting free from Britain in the early 1920s Ireland chose to stay neutral during world-war-2. This choice later turned into a wider non-military stance even though Irish leaders tried to make a defense deal with USA in the late 40s
Modern-day defense rules in Ireland use a three-step system for sending troops anywhere:
- Getting UN approval
- Government ok
- Parliament vote
Right now (with elections coming up in just a few days) theres talk about changing these rules; they dont want Russia or China blocking Irish troop movements through UN votes
The current defense budget is way too small — only about half-percent of the countrys income‚ but plans are to make it bigger. The next government might push for more money to buy fighter jets and double the navy size; this would help protect important stuff like wind-farms and under-sea cables from bad actors
Looking forward its clear that Ireland needs to spend more on defense — maybe even team-up with UK on some projects (like building new ships in Belfast). The country has changed a lot: its now more European than ever and home to many people from eastern EU countries that worry about Russian moves