Posted by Is Irish defence becoming increasingly reliant on Britain?
Is Irish defence becoming increasingly reliant on Britain?
By
August 8, 2022
In a recent article, Irish Examiner Defence Correspondent Sean O’Riordan examined whether or not Ireland is becoming a type of British protectorate, asking “can we keep pretending we are neutral when experts must think it’s patently obvious we are not?”.
Sean said the following in an article for the Irish Examiner here.
“A few years ago it was revealed that the Government had reached a secret agreement with Britain that the Royal Air Force (RAF) would protect Irish skies, as we didn’t have any fighter jets to do the job. Nice of big brother next door to do this for us, but then again there was some self-preservation involved on the British side.
After 9/11, it became apparent that terrorists would and could hijack commercial airlines to carry out attacks. The likelihood of them hijacking a Europe-bound commercial airliner over the Atlantic and crashing it into Croke Park or Leinster House was minute, if non-existent. More likely a target would be Downing Street or Buckingham Palace.
The British knew we didn’t have the fighters to intercept and shoot hijacked planes out of the sky. They therefore offered to protect our skies in a deal from which the Defence Forces were excluded, even though the RAF asked for their input. This lack of consultation between the Government and its own military baffled the RAF. It also baffled the Defence Forces and questions are still being asked today about their exclusion from the talks.
Now, it has emerged that the British navy is planning to launch a ship or ships with the capability to monitor threats off the Irish coast to data information cables running under the Atlantic which connect North America with Europe. These cables have global economic significance, transmitting millions of messages between banks, businesses, and ordinary people each day. Cutting them would lead to international chaos.”
You can read the rest here, I recommend you do as it’s very informative.
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. He also works for the NHS. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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