Post by cato on Feb 5, 2020 20:27:29 GMT
One policy that unites virtually all political opinion in Ireland is Military Neutrality. The hard left, the middle ground and the various new mini right wing groups all unite in defending this policy. Traditionally conservative groups have held up the threat of conscription in an EU army as an argument in various EU treaties. This ignores the inconvenient fact most European militaries have now abolished conscription .
Ireland has the weakest military in the EU. We Spend .3% of GNP on defence. Many of our soldiers now need social welfare family supplements to survive on. Our small navy which patrols one of the biggest marine areas in the world cannot afford to man 1/4 of our patrol ships. Leo Varadkar is the defence minister that has presided over this sorry state of affairs .Defence is no longer viewed as worthy of having a full cabinet seat in its own right. Ironic when you consider the military origins of the Irish state.
Ireland has no ability to detect or deter foreign submarines in our waters which are basically a safe haven for nuclear submarines of various states. Ireland has no ability to police our air space. In fact and incredibly we have a confidential understanding with the Royal Air Force (ahem) to intervene if a a terrorist hijacking occurs in our airspace . How the peace and justice types put up with this hypocrisy beats me. Most similar sized European nations have a sovereign ability to perform this task themselves or with formal allies.
We also have no cyber security unit in the defence forces despite our boasts at being the most connected little nation ever.
In the past we pleaded poverty or sanctimonious piety as an excuse to be defenceless but if we have any self respect left we need to either do what proper EU neutrals like Finland Austria and Sweden do and fund their militaries properly. A neutral state is obliged to defend its territory against potential aggressors.
Or we can join NATO. We originally opted out in 1949 because of partition. I presume Sinn Fein will lead the way into the greatest democratic alliance in world history as part of their unification agenda.
Ireland has the weakest military in the EU. We Spend .3% of GNP on defence. Many of our soldiers now need social welfare family supplements to survive on. Our small navy which patrols one of the biggest marine areas in the world cannot afford to man 1/4 of our patrol ships. Leo Varadkar is the defence minister that has presided over this sorry state of affairs .Defence is no longer viewed as worthy of having a full cabinet seat in its own right. Ironic when you consider the military origins of the Irish state.
Ireland has no ability to detect or deter foreign submarines in our waters which are basically a safe haven for nuclear submarines of various states. Ireland has no ability to police our air space. In fact and incredibly we have a confidential understanding with the Royal Air Force (ahem) to intervene if a a terrorist hijacking occurs in our airspace . How the peace and justice types put up with this hypocrisy beats me. Most similar sized European nations have a sovereign ability to perform this task themselves or with formal allies.
We also have no cyber security unit in the defence forces despite our boasts at being the most connected little nation ever.
In the past we pleaded poverty or sanctimonious piety as an excuse to be defenceless but if we have any self respect left we need to either do what proper EU neutrals like Finland Austria and Sweden do and fund their militaries properly. A neutral state is obliged to defend its territory against potential aggressors.
Or we can join NATO. We originally opted out in 1949 because of partition. I presume Sinn Fein will lead the way into the greatest democratic alliance in world history as part of their unification agenda.
