{"id":317467,"date":"2026-02-26T02:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/317467\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T02:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:14:09","slug":"maritime-security-strategy-aims-to-restore-sight-to-irelands-seablindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/317467\/","title":{"rendered":"Maritime security strategy aims to restore sight to Ireland’s ‘seablindness’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s first ever maritime security strategy is receiving a general welcome from various defence and security experts.<\/p>\n

They complement the ambition of the strategy, measures to drive co-ordination among Ireland\u2019s numerous maritime agencies, and formal declarations of the need to enhance military co-operation with neighbours.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the strategy and public comments by defence minister Helen McEntee could not emphasise any more how Ireland is pushing for \u2014 and, consequently, dependent on \u2014 the military assistance of our neighbours.<\/p>\n

But in their welcome, the experts do have the usual caveats: The need for political leadership to drive implementation, and the pressing requirement of sustained \u2014 and increased \u2014 investment in the Defence Forces.<\/p>\n

The plan<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s National Maritime Security Strategy 2026-2030 comes to us before Ireland has published a national security strategy. The former should logically flow from the latter.<\/p>\n

However, the country has waited more than four years for the national strategy to be published. Despite repeated statements of its imminent release, the Department of Taoiseach continues, inexplicably, to sit on it.<\/p>\n

The Department of Defence, which churns out documents at a fair click, deserves some credit, not least due to the work of the strategy\u2019s main driver, Margaret Stanley.<\/p>\n

\"IrishIrish Navy personnel at the launch. Picture: Sam Boal\/Collins Photos<\/p>\n

The strategy, formally launched on board the L\u00c9 Samuel Beckett at Dublin\u2019s docklands, reminds its readers of the sheer scale of Ireland\u2019s maritime area.<\/p>\n

On top of territorial waters \u2014 out to 12 nautical miles from the coast \u2014 Irish-controlled waters (exclusive economic zone) stretches to 200 nautical miles. That\u2019s seven times Ireland\u2019s land mass.<\/p>\n

The strategy outlines the key risks to Ireland\u2019s maritime security as:<\/p>\n

Damage to undersea infrastructure (such as data cables);
\n Disruption to oil supply (which comes by sea into Irish ports);
\n Disruption to electricity or gas supply (comprising of two electricity interconnectors from Britain and two gas pipelines from Britain, the latter supplying 80% of Ireland\u2019s gas needs);
\n Malicious cyber activity on critical infrastructure;
\n Maritime incident involving mass casualties.<\/p>\n

It added that the presence of significant communication and cloud infrastructure in Ireland, along with subsea infrastructure in the exclusive economic zone, exposed Ireland to added risk.<\/p>\n

Further highlighting the importance of Irish ports, and of sea routes, the strategy said that 90% of Ireland\u2019s trade by volume is transported by sea.<\/p>\n

It states there are \u201cgrowing concerns\u201d about the threats posed by Russia\u2019s shadow fleet, mainly used to transport sanctioned oil but also suspected, as the strategy points out, of being used for \u201cespionage and sabotage\u201d \u2014 including by deploying drones on the border of, or inside, another country\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n

Praise<\/p>\n

Brendan Flynn, a lecturer in political science at the University of Galway and a specialist on maritime security, said: \u201cIt\u2019s an excellent document and a really historic moment \u2014 the Irish State is giving real attention to the maritime domain in a way that historically it hasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the naval service had been \u201cleft in decline\u201d in more recent years, with its remaining capabilities focused on fishery protection and, to some extent, counter-narcotics operations, with a \u201cvery limited\u201d role in maritime security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis document shows a major change in mindset, there is higher ambition,\u201d Mr Flynn said, particularly commending the inclusion of climate change as a maritime security threat.<\/p>\n

He welcomed the suggestion of a national maritime security centre, which he said, if up and running, could be an \u201cengine for delivery\u201d similar to the National Cyber Security Centre.<\/p>\n

He said that \u201cone of the best ideas\u201d is the concept of \u201cforward operating bases\u201d beyond naval service HQ in Haulbowline in Cork to the East and West coasts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main reason for that is recruitment, retention, career flexibility, and forging deep connections with local communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be great if what comes out of this is our navy has a permanent presence in maybe D\u00fan Laoghaire [Dublin] and Ros a\u2019 Mh\u00edl [Galway].\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor of law at Queen\u2019s University Richard Collins said there were \u201ca lot of positives\u201d in the strategy, mentioning the consideration of new naval bases and more assertive enforcement powers for the naval service.<\/p>\n

He welcomed the action plan with timelines, but said many of the actions are in the form of \u201cgiving consideration to something or exploring something\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"DefenceDefence minister Helen McEntee at the launch of the maritime defence strategy at the L\u00c9 Samuel Beckett. Picture: Sam Boal\/Collins<\/p>\n

Like his academic colleague, he mentioned the national maritime security centre. He stated he believed this was \u201ccritical\u201d to achieving a whole-of-government approach at operational level.<\/p>\n

He also welcomed the suggestion, albeit vague, of setting up a \u201cregional monitoring hub\u201d for the EU.<\/p>\n

Mr Collins welcomed what he said appeared to be a \u201cfairly firm commitment\u201d to partnering up with other countries in the joint expeditionary force.<\/p>\n

The joint expeditionary force comprises of 10 northern European countries, and it specifically targets the movements of the shadow fleet and threats to subsea infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Mark Mellett, a former Defence Forces chief of staff and vice-admiral of the naval service, said: \u201cIreland\u2019s Maritime Security Strategy 2026-2030 is a pragmatic, whole-of-government blueprint to build maritime domain awareness rapidly, prioritising the protection of critical undersea infrastructure. The strategy points to the actions and partnership required.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenneth McDonagh, an associate professor of international relations at DCU, said the strategy was a welcome step forward: \u201cThe strategy rightly highlights the vulnerabilities Ireland faces in relation to critical maritime infrastructure with an emphasis on undersea cables and power connections. The strategy also acknowledges the clear gaps in Ireland\u2019s capabilities and, although detail is absent, points to the capability development plan that will address these gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the strategy \u201ctries to walk a narrow line\u201d between recognising the need to co-operate with international partners, in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks, while maintaining Ireland\u2019s military neutrality.<\/p>\n

Caveats<\/p>\n

Mr Flynn said the key qualification to his positive comments is to what extent the strategy \u201cwill be implemented or delivered\u201d.<\/p>\n

He expressed concern that what he sees as a good initiative, the national maritime security centre, is only \u201cmooted\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, his greatest concern centred around the prospects of the naval service: \u201cMy main worry is that, in reality, so much depends on the regeneration plan for our navy and also the air corps\/air force.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our navy that will do most of the heavy lifting for this strategy \u2014 albeit in partnership with many national and international stakeholders. So, I guess Ireland can\u2019t afford to drop the ball on that core capacity building task.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Wednesday\u2019s launch, the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy, said the regeneration plan would be with the minister soon and would outline a \u201cmulti-annual plan to rebuild the strength and capacity\u201d of the naval service.<\/p>\n

Mr Collins said the establishment of the maritime security working group, which brings together seven departments and four agencies, needs to be made a \u201cpermanent oversight body\u201d in order to drive a whole-of-government approach.<\/p>\n

\"LtLt Gen Rossa Mulcahy said a plan would be with the minister soon. Picture: Sam Boal\/Collins Photos<\/p>\n

He said the national maritime security centre, while critical, was still just an aspiration: \u201cThere is a lot still to do to get that off the ground tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Collins said the positive suggestion of possibly establishing a regional monitoring hub for the EU \u201cremains quite speculative at this stage\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he said such a hub could ease the concerns of EU states that Ireland was not doing enough in the security domain.<\/p>\n

Mr Collins said the fundamental issues of capacity and capability of Ireland\u2019s Defence Forces were still \u201cdependent both on enhanced resourcing and on regional and local \u2014 bilateral \u2014 co-operation\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said details were needed of the co-operation agreements with Britain and France.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be good to have had some concrete ideas in here around, for example, personnel exchanges, joint exercises, sharing of resources and assets, where feasible. The detail on Ireland-France co-operation is also somewhat vague,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Concerns over resourcing of the Defence Forces were again detailed in the Irish Examiner on Monday, with former army ranger officer and ex-TD Cathal Berry saying that the recently published updated implementation plan for government-agreed Defence Forces investment was \u201conly half-funded\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the Department of Defence had sought capital funding of \u20ac3.4bn between 2026 and 2030 to implement the Defence Forces\u2019 investment plan, but had only received \u20ac1.7bn from the Department of Public Expenditure.<\/p>\n

Mr Mellett said securing the necessary investment was crucial.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt now needs sustained resourcing and delivery discipline to turn ambition into enduring capability if we are to move from a century of seablindness to an era of maritime domain awareness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s first ever maritime security strategy is receiving a general welcome from various defence and security experts. They…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[126087,13308,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-317467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-maritime-and-port-economy","tag-defence-forces","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317467","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=317467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}