{"id":197931,"date":"2025-12-18T07:42:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T07:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/197931\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T07:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T07:42:07","slug":"hybrid-threats-expected-to-increase-during-irelands-eu-presidency-department-warns-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/197931\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid threats expected to increase during Ireland\u2019s EU presidency, department warns \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hybrid threats are expected to increase in Europe over the coming years, including during Ireland\u2019s EU <\/a>presidency, Department of Defence<\/a> officials have warned.<\/p>\n

In briefing materials prepared for newly appointed Minister for Defence Helen McEntee<\/a> last month, officials noted Europe\u2019s security and defence will likely be the \u201cdominant context\u201d of the Irish presidency during the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n

They warned that the trend of hybrid activity, described as \u201csystemic, coercive behaviour directed by a state actor and designed to damage a target\u201d, is expected to \u201cincrease over the coming years, including during our presidency\u201d.<\/p>\n

While hybrid activity can take place across \u201call possible domains\u201d, officials said it includes \u201csystemic foreign interference in the information space\u201d, including in the context of elections.<\/p>\n

According to the document provided under the Freedom of Information Act, portions of which are heavily redacted, it also includes sabotage, instrumentalisation of migration, cyber activity, attacks against critical infrastructure, and radio frequency interference\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Spike in Russian shadow fleet activities during Zelenskiy visitOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trend of increasing hybrid activity is expected to continue and could escalate in the event of a ceasefire and Russian reliance on a war economy model,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n

As part of ongoing preparations for Ireland\u2019s EU presidency, officials noted that some \u20ac19 million will be spent to acquire counter unmanned aerial systems, or anti-drone technology.<\/p>\n

Department officials said there is \u201csustained momentum\u201d to enhance national and EU-level resilience to keep \u201ccritical functions operational in a crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis focus is very relevant to the escalation in hybrid activity within member states,\u201d officials said.<\/p>\n

The document notes that Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine \u201cfundamentally altered\u201d the European security landscape and resulted in a \u201cparadigm shift\u201d in approaches to security and defence.<\/p>\n

It described initiatives aimed at ramping up \u201cdefence readiness\u201d by 2030, \u201cmeaning member states are prepared for any defence-related crisis, including high-intensity warfare\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overarching goal and driver of the process is enhancing capabilities in order to be able to credibly deter an attack by Russia,\u201d the document states.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Do you have any friends in the IRA?\u2019: how Russia\u2019s hybrid war is sowing chaos across EuropeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Officials said concerns about the \u201cdurability of the transatlantic security partnership\u201d have also had a \u201cprofound impact\u201d, with a number of member states pushing for the EU to take a stronger role on security and defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany in Brussels have doubts that the EU and its current structures could endure the chaos, instability and uncertainty resulting from a kinetic attack on a member state,\u201d officials said.<\/p>\n

Separately, the Minister was advised that the total strength of the Permanent Defence Forces, including Army Air Corps and Naval Service, is expected to reach 7,700 by year, up from 7,557 at the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the net increase is positive, the rate of increase is not sufficient to reach current establishment within any realistic time frame,\u201d the notes read.<\/p>\n

The current \u201cestablishment\u201d, or agreed strength, is 9,739.<\/p>\n

\u201cAssuming that net recruitment is increased substantially further (from net increase of 140 per year to 400 net per year) current establishment will be achieved in five years approximately, by 2031.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hybrid threats are expected to increase in Europe over the coming years, including during Ireland\u2019s EU presidency, Department…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,7038,43],"class_list":["post-197931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-politics","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}