Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris is now “convinced” of the need for the State to acquire combat jet aircraft to “deter and detect airborne threats” as part of a huge increase in defence spending, he said on Friday.
The Fine Gael leader made the remarks as he outlined plans to increase “aggressively” the capabilities of the Defence Forces and speed up the procurement of military equipment. As reported by The Irish Times, he said he has requested defence officials to prepare costings, action plans and timelines for a tripling of Ireland’s defence budget, which would bring it in line with similarly sized small EU countries.
This would fund a transformation of the Defence Forces, including a doubling of the Irish Naval Service to 12 vessels, enabling it to possess “a defensive conventional maritime war-fighting capability”, official documents state.
The Irish Air Corps, which will become the Irish Air Force, would acquire a squadron of aircraft capable of air combat and interception of airborne threats.
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It would also involve a fleet of modern armoured vehicles for the Army, the establishment of a military intelligence school and a corps of 300 troops dedicated to cybersecurity.
Speaking after meeting new Defence Forces cadets and opening a new cadet school and transport headquarters in the Curragh, Co Kildare, Mr Harris said he is convinced of the case for an air combat-capable air force due to the “volatile” geopolitical environment.
“We’re living in a geopolitical environment that is volatile, that is different, and we have a lot of catching up to do,” he said.
The military needs to be able to “deter and detect” threats, the Tánaiste said. “I think these are sensible things for any modern European country to do, and in fact I think it’s a very important step.”
The move will not impact Ireland’s “proud” policy of military neutrality, he said.
“There are no plans, ambitions or aspirations to change [neutrality]. It’s valued by the Irish people. It’s valued by the Government of Ireland.
“But actually being militarily neutral doesn’t allow you recuse yourself from conversations about appropriate levels of investment in defence.”
The Tánaiste says he expects to sign off shortly on a procurement process for a military radar and sonar system capable of detecting airborne and maritime threats. However, he cautioned that the process of fully equipping the Defence Forces “is a journey” that will take some time.
The Government had already committed to increasing defence spending by 50 per cent by 2028, one of the recommendations laid out by the Commission on the Defence Forces in its 2022 report.
This goal is termed Level of Ambition 2. Officials have now been tasked with making preliminary plans to move past Level of Ambition 2 once it is achieved and on to Level of Ambition 3, which according to the commission would involve a defence budget of €3 billion.
This would bring Ireland’s defence spending to 1.4 per cent of gross national income, roughly in line with other small EU countries.
Mr Harris stressed that Level of Ambition 2 must be achieved before the Government can move on to Level of Ambition 3.
“I’ve instructed my own officials in the Department of Defence to begin to prepare the groundwork for that, and to provide me with information and detail in terms of what that will look like, in terms of level of investment, in terms of our capabilities and our infrastructure, and of course, our personnel.”
