We cannot depend on neighbours to protect our nation from attack
We are responsible for our own defence, and those whom we would presume to do our duty for us could be forgiven if they treated us with contempt.
As Michael Collins said: “those who succeeded to the teachings of Davis saw ... that the nation could only be preserved and freedom won by the Irish people themselves”. That is a principle which the people of Ireland expressed in Constitutional stipulations on national defence.
Collins also recognised that “our military strength in proportion to the mighty armaments of modern nations can never be considerable”. However, he could never have foreseen the extent to which the State fell seriously behind in its fundamental duty to maintain even a basic air defence system. Remember the Pope’s visit in 1979, when his plane had to slow down to allow escorting Fouga jets to catch up?
Foreign forces are prohibited from defending Ireland. Yet our failure to look after ourselves properly allows them to encroach on our territory.
And if, today, Russian bombers were making a B-line across Irish territory towards the UK, RAF officers would be obliged to deal with them over Ireland, in preference to over the UK, because they have sworn allegiance to their own Queen and country, and not to Ireland.
Accordingly, the consequences for Ireland would be far more dangerous for us than having our own defence forces deal with such a threat. Your correspondents, Karl Martin and Paul O’Sullivan, complained on Saturday about the costs of the necessary system. Would it be more expensive than electronic voting machines, water meters, PPARS, EirCode?
