Irish Defence Forces not properly resourced to combat terrorist threats due to cuts

Defence Forces personnel are not properly resourced to meet terrorist threats due to cuts in manpower levels, a lack of jet aircraft, and a bomb squad operating at only 50% strength.

The revelation comes as a fresh wave of panic sweeps through Europe — Germany’s soccer match with the Netherlands was called off just hours before kick-off last night due to security fears at a stadium in Hannover, while authorities also decided to postpone Munster’s Champions Cup visit to Stade Français in Paris this Sunday.

In the aftermath of last week’s bloody terrorist attack in Paris, which claimed 129 lives, the risks of a potential extremist attack here, and the resources needed to combat it, will be on the agenda when RACO (Representative Association of Commissioned Officers) begins its biennial conference today in Naas, Co Kildare.

Although RACO, representing officers from the army, navy, and air corps, will welcome aspirations in the recently launched White Paper on Defence to strengthen the Defence Forces, delegates are expected to express concern about significant budget cuts in recent years which compromised their capabilities.

The White Paper identifies the potential for an extremist terrorist strike in Ireland, yet RACO will claim that the money to provide the military with proper defence and security capabilities to counteract any attack has not yet been earmarked.

The need for jet aircraft, improved radar capabilities and intelligence-gathering technology (eavesdropping equipment) were also identified in the White Paper as priorities to mitigate a terrorist threat.

Defence Minister Simon Coveney

Yet the Defence budget has increased by just €6m this year — most of which will go on upgrading outdated equipment.

In fact, defence budgets have continually been slashed since 2008 and Ireland remains one of the lowest spenders on defence, as a percentage of GDP of any EU state.

Following a meeting of defence ministers yesterday in Brussels, Defence Minister Simon Coveney said that, as Ireland is neutral, it is restricted in how it can help.

“The two obvious areas where we could work with them is, one, in terms of sharing data and intelligence in terms of where people are and how they are moving around the European Union,” said Mr Coveney.

“But also, France has very significant missions in North Africa for peacekeeping, in countries like Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Mali, for example.

France seem to be indicating today that if other countries could take slightly more of the burden on some of those peacekeeping missions, that could free up resources for them in other areas. That’s the kind of thing that we’ll look at.”

Separately, following a security alert in Hannover which saw the Niedersachsenstadion evacuated due to a “suspect device”, the friendly soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands was called off.

Local police told fans to “go home quickly without panic” 90 minutes before play started and described the threat as “concrete”.

“There were plans for some kind of explosion,” Hannover’s chief of police, Volker Kluwe, told the BBC.

Many top German officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, were scheduled to attend the match to show they will not bow to terrorism but had to be rerouted.

A music venue in the city, the TUI-Arena was also evacuated, as was a train station, though, at the time of printing, no explosive devices had been found in either the stadium, the arena, or the train station.

After the scare, the Munster clash with Stade Français, due to take place on Sunday, was also postponed.

European Professional Cup Rugby officials had met with counterparts from Stade Français yesterday to finalise security details for Sunday’s meeting with Munster in Paris but the postponement of last night’s football friendlies in Brussels, Belgium, and Hannover, Germany, on security grounds, is believed to have prompted an about turn on efforts to resume sporting events in the French capital.

Four matches involving French teams were postponed last weekend in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

Munster last night posted on its official website an updated travel advisory to the 540 supporters who had purchased tickets through the province with many more expected to have attended Sunday’s game having secured seats through other channels.

“Fans who had intended to travel to Paris should contact their airline or tour operator for further information while an announcement on tickets will follow in due course,” it read.