{"id":668631,"date":"2026-10-29T07:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/668631\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T07:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:30:09","slug":"instead-of-wasting-money-lets-draw-up-a-defence-plan-ireland-needs-and-can-deliver-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/668631\/","title":{"rendered":"Instead of wasting money, let\u2019s draw up a defence plan Ireland needs and can deliver \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sir, \u2013 Let\u2019s not repeat the mistake of throwing money at the wrong answer to the wrong question. The reported proposal to acquire more than 550 French armoured vehicles raises fundamental questions about Ireland\u2019s defence priorities. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The question should not be how many armoured vehicles Ireland needs to create a mechanised brigade. It should be what capabilities Ireland can realistically develop, operate and sustain that would both best protect our national interests and make a meaningful contribution to European security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Comptroller and Auditor General\u2019s examination of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/defence-forces\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/defence-forces\/\">Defence Forces<\/a>\u2019 light tactical armoured vehicle programme provides a sobering warning. Twenty-seven vehicles, acquired for approximately \u20ac20 million, were withdrawn from active service well before their expected service lives. The difficulties surrounding the acquisition and commissioning of two former New Zealand naval patrol vessels offer further grounds for caution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">These experiences are not a criticism of Defence Forces personnel. They raise serious questions about the State\u2019s capacity to procure, maintain and sustain sophisticated military equipment. The financial implications are potentially enormous. Belgium\u2019s court of audit has identified lifetime costs of at least \u20ac14.7 billion for its programme involving 442 French armoured vehicles, compared with an originally announced agreement of approximately \u20ac1.6 billion. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Applying that Belgian experience proportionately to a proposed Irish fleet of 550 vehicles suggests a potential lifetime expenditure of about \u20ac18 billion. As others have argued, the underlying problem is institutional: weaknesses in technical structures, sustainment arrangements, independent certification and transparent whole-life accounting. Simply buying different equipment will not resolve those deficiencies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ireland is an Atlantic island with extensive maritime approaches, strategically important subsea communications infrastructure and a substantial technology sector. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Europe faces growing challenges in maritime surveillance, critical infrastructure protection, cyber defence and secure communications. A specialist Irish capability in maritime and subsea surveillance, autonomous systems, airborne intelligence and deployable electronic and cyber systems could address our own vulnerabilities while providing valuable support to European operations. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">We could complement this with sovereign European data infrastructure in Ireland, supported by additional domestic renewable energy generation, strengthening resilience and creating opportunities for the Irish technology sector.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Before committing billions over the lifetime of such equipment, the Government should commission an independent and expert assessment of the operational requirements, institutional capacity, whole-life costs and strategic value of credible alternatives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Let\u2019s establish what Ireland and its European partners actually need, what we are uniquely positioned to deliver and whether we can sustain it. \u2013 Yours, etc,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">PAUL RYAN,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Cork.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir, \u2013 Let\u2019s not repeat the mistake of throwing money at the wrong answer to the wrong question.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17979,38183,13308,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-668631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-belgium","tag-comptroller-and-auditor-general","tag-defence-forces","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668631","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=668631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}