Ireland doesn't build tanks or weapons but SMEs are hoping to benefit from Europe's increased defence spending 

With EU defence budgets soaring, Ireland’s tech firms have a chance to play a bigger role in security innovation

Army Ranger Wing members in the Curragh Camp in Kildare. Ireland spends the least on defence out of 38 European nations. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

It has taken less than two months of Donald Trump being back in the White House for long-standing alliances and international security arrangements to be upended, forcing the EU, and by extension Ireland, to massively rethink its own defence spending policies.

As a result, European nations are ramping up defence spending offering a potential boon to companies both on the continent and in Ireland. While Ireland does not have a domestic defence industry producing hardware, it does have a range of software firms already working in the sector.