{"id":316763,"date":"2026-02-25T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/316763\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T16:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T16:27:08","slug":"ireland-should-not-fear-asking-allies-for-military-help-says-minister-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/316763\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland should not fear asking allies for military help, says Minister \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland \u201cshouldn\u2019t be afraid\u201d to seek military assistance from allies during its hosting of the EU<\/a> presidency this year, Minister for Defence Helen McEntee<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

She was speaking on Wednesday morning at the launch of the National Maritime Security Strategy, which calls for deeper co-operation with France and the UK to secure Ireland\u2019s marine area.<\/p>\n

The new strategy commits to establishing a national maritime security centre in Ireland and to forge stronger links to Nato<\/a> and other military bodies to combat threats to undersea and offshore infrastructure.<\/p>\n

It will also involve new legislation to give the Irish Naval Service<\/a> greater powers to board and inspect suspicious ships. <\/p>\n

It is understood the focus on co-operation with the UK and France will allow ships from those countries to patrol the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and provide offshore security during the EU presidency if requested by Government.<\/p>\n

This includes the potential stationing of French and British air defence frigates off the Irish coast during high-profile events to protect against airborne threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we should be afraid to seek assistance if it\u2019s needed from other countries and from allies and partners,\u201d said the Minister, pointing to the fact that Germany provided military assistance to Denmark last year when it held the rotating presidency.<\/p>\n

McEntee said the Government is \u201cactively engaged\u201d in examining whether Ireland will need outside assistance during the presidency and \u201cwhat that might look like\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said it is \u201conly prudent\u201d to explore these options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re only exploring what we might need and what we could do,\u201d the Minister said. \u201cThis is normal practice, to work with each other and to collaborate, be it on our seas or be it on land.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland to allow French and British vessels to patrol Irish-controlled watersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Minister said any such arrangements will be in line with Irish laws and the Constitution. <\/p>\n

However, such co-operation could be open to legal challenge. Article 15 of the Constitution states: \u201cNo military or armed force, other than a military or armed force raised and maintained by the Oireachtas, shall be raised or maintained for any purpose whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about this, McEntee said Ireland has \u201ca very clear position when it comes to our military alliances and our neutrality, and I\u2019m not suggesting for a second that that changes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that doesn\u2019t prevent us co-operating with other colleagues when it comes to security and defence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SailorsSailors prepare for Minister for Defence Helen McEntee to launch the National Maritime Security Strategy aboard the L\u00c9 Samuel Beckett at Sir Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin.
\nPhotograph: Chris Maddaloni <\/p>\n

Separately, the Minister announced \u20ac1.8 million in funding for two Irish security initiatives, including Sea Scan, a Trinity College project to provide the Naval Service with an \u201cAI-enhanced real-time vessel detection system\u201d capable of detecting so-called dark vessels.<\/p>\n

Funding will also be provided for a project to develop rapidly deployable military shelters for defence and humanitarian needs.<\/p>\n

The funding was provided under the Research Ireland \u2013 Defence Innovation Challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland \u201cshouldn\u2019t be afraid\u201d to seek military assistance from allies during its hosting of the EU presidency this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2244,1556,61,60,4187,43],"class_list":["post-316763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-eu","tag-helen-mcentee","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-naval-service","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316763","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=316763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}