Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy, who took over as the most senior officer in the Defence Forces in June, confirms he is no relation to General Richard Mulcahy, the man who helped establish the organisation over a century ago.
“Not that I know of anyway. He may be some distant cousin. But it’s nice to have the name,” said Lt Gen Mulcahy.
But there are reminders of Richard Mulcahy everywhere you look in the chief of staff’s office in the Department of Defence in Newbridge, Co Kildare. This includes a plaque by the door bearing Mulcahy’s instructions to his troops after the death of Michael Collins in August 1922: “Stand by your posts. Bend bravely and undaunted to your work. Let no cruel act of reprisal blemish your bright honour.”
Though they are probably unrelated, Rossa Mulcahy faces similar challenges to his predecessor, including internal and external State threats and a lack of resources to handle them. The biggest challenge, by far, is transformation.
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Richard Mulcahy had to rapidly shape an insurgent IRA force which relied on guerrilla warfare into a standing army capable of fighting and winning a civil war.
Rossa Mulcahy must transform a Defence Forces which has been found unable to fulfil some of its most basic functions. It must become a modern fighting force, capable of both overseas service and national defence in an increasingly dangerous world.
At the same time, he must rapidly grow the size of the force by about 70 per cent (about 4,000 personnel). This must be achieved while addressing fundamental cultural issues around bullying and abuse highlighted by the Women of Honour controversy. Allegations of sexual harassment, abuse, bullying and discrimination in the Defence Forces were raised by female veterans.
The decision last Thursday by the UN Security Council to wind down the Unifil peacekeeping mission in Lebanon – the Defence Forces’ largest overseas posting – only adds to Mulcahy’s workload.
If the general is under pressure, he wears it lightly.
“We have always done transformation,” he said. “So it’s not new to us, but it is a step change.”
In 2022, the Commission on the Defence Forces made 130 recommendations for the expansion and rejuvenation of the military.
“We’ve 43 recommendations completed. We’ve another 16 that are due to complete this year. That’s well towards 50 per cent in the first couple of years.”
Meeting the goal of getting the Defence Forces to 11,500 personnel by 2028 will be a “challenge”, he concedes. Military strength has just started to stabilise at around 7,500 following years of decline
“I have to be frank and honest, but we’re working on a workforce plan to present to the Tánaiste. Retention is a key part of that. And recruitment is strong. But to bridge the gap will take a while.”
The current target for the Defence Forces is what the Commission called Level of Ambition (LOA) 2. This involves an expansion of military capacities and a 50 per cent increase in defence spending.
Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris said he wants to then move to LOA 3, which would transform the Defence Forces into a conventional military power, equipped with combat jets, a 12-ship navy and a defence budget comparable with other small EU countries.
Moving to LOA 3 is a decision for Government, Mulcahy said, but planning has already started.
“The goal is to get to LOA 2 and then, as quickly as possible, to LOA 3,” he said. “We’re looking at everything through an LOA 3 lens. We’ll present options to Government and the Government will decide what they want.”
The general frequently returns to the topic of national defence. In other words, the ability of the Defence Forces to repel an attack from a hostile actor, be that an invasion, a cyberattack or a hijacked aircraft.
The Army previously gave a dire assessment of its abilities in this area. It told the Commission “it is not equipped, postured or realistically prepared to conduct a meaningful defence of the State against a full-spectrum force for any sustained period of time”.
At the same time, the Commission warned there is a growing risk of Ireland’s land, sea and air being used by belligerent powers to launch attacks.
“We have to be able to deliver on national defence operations,” said Mulcahy. “That’s the fundamental role of the Defence Forces, to defend the State. That’s something we have to develop over the next couple years.”
Expanding on what he means by “national defence”, he added: “It means, ‘can we defend our maritime domain or air domain?’. And then all of the major conflicts in any war always happen on the land. That’s where the battles are won or lost . . . so we have to be able to defend in that way as well.”
The military is an “ultimate guarantor” in the event of an attack, he said. “The Defence Forces will be the ones who will be in the front line.”
Mulcahy recites a long list of ways in which the Defence Forces is improving its on-island capabilities. There is the new radar and sonar system which will allow it to detect what is happening below the sea and above the clouds.
This will include a ground-based air-defence missile system, capable of dealing with short- to medium-range threats. “We’re in active discussions on that, so I can’t go into any specifics, but that’s the conceptual goal.”
A Defence Forces “armour board” is also identifying a replacement for the army’s ageing fleet of armoured personnel carriers. These new vehicles will feature thicker armour and heavier weapons, including artillery.
The new vehicles will come in various shapes and sizes, Mulcahy said. “We may have an indirect fire platform, a direct fire platform and also engineer variants.”
He confirmed that the Defence Forces is also developing its drone capabilities and its ability to take down hostile drones, which are a growing threat to international peacekeeping operations.
The Air Corps (soon to be renamed the Air Force) will shortly obtain a military transport aircraft. This will be a “huge” asset in moving troops around the country for national defence, as well as resupplying overseas missions, he said.
In charge of all of this will be an entirely new command structure, which will see the Naval Service and Air Force given parity with the army.
Such is the rate of change that, in a few years, Mulcahy’s current position will no longer exist. The chief of staff will become the chief of defence, a post which will come with far more military authority and far more accountability before the Oireachtas.
Mulcahy, who will have to apply for the role just like anyone else, confirms he is interested in the job. “I imagine there may be competition.”
It is unusual to hear Defence Forces chiefs talk about “invasion” and “battles”. Over the decades, many have questioned if Ireland even needs a military. Last week, Independent TD and presidential candidate Catherine Connolly, said the Defence Forces “are not, and should never become, an army. Armies fight wars”.
Asked if Ireland needs a military, Mulcahy quotes Leon Trotsky: “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”
No small state can defend itself alone, he said, adding: “But we have to be able to provide a defence to repel any initial invasion and then look for support from partners under the EU or under the UN banner.
“That’s the same for any small country. Every sovereign country has to be able to defend itself.”
The possibility of a conventional military attack is unlikely, Mulcahy believes. Yet there are many other threats facing Ireland. These include cyber attacks, election interference and organised crime. “We know espionage is a threat. The guards look at that, as do we.”
Ireland’s maritime area is also at risk, he confirms, including from the increasing presence of the Russian “shadow fleet” off the coast. These are ageing ships used to smuggle Russian oil in breach of sanctions.
Western security agencies have also accused the vessels of intelligence gathering and sabotaging undersea infrastructure.
There has been a marked increase in the presence of shadow fleet vessels off the west coast in recent months.
“We monitor the shadow fleet. It is a concern for us, of course,” said the general. He said the Defence Forces monitors the behaviour of these ships to determine their intentions.
“Every vessel is supposed to have its automatic identification system (AIS) turned on. So if ships are turning on and off their AIS, that will trigger an alert for us.”
Even as the Defence Forces focuses more on national defence, it will always seek to have troops stationed overseas on peacekeeping missions, Mulcahy said.
The winding down of the Lebanon mission is a “big loss”, he says, calling the mission the “bedrock of Irish overseas service for the last 50-odd years”.
However, new missions will emerge, some of which may be more unstable. The chief of staff believes the Defence Forces can participate in these “more dangerous, more kinetic missions”, but that they will have to operate alongside partner countries.
As things stand, it may not have to wait long. “The world isn’t getting any more stable or secure,” said Mulcahy.
