Islamic extremist threat to Ireland possible but threat level remains low says Simon Coveney

Minister for Defence Simon Coveney says there is a possible risk this country could be attacked by Islamic extremists, but the threat level is low and will continue to be assessed.

He says he’s satisfied the Defence Forces and gardaí have the capacity to deal with extremists and is considering offering to send Irish soldiers to Africa to replace French troops if they are withdrawn from peacekeeping duties there.

France is likely to withdraw troops to protect its homeland and attack Islamic State forces responsible for the recent Paris massacres.

He said the Defence Forces had 10 personnel in Mali, one of the countries where French peacekeepers were based, and they were carrying our a reconnaissance mission to see if there was more the Irish could do there.

Mr Coveney said France had spread itself thin and Ireland could send peacekeeping troops and this wouldn’t compromise the Constitution or our neutrality.

He said Defence Forces officers shouldn’t be spreading fears about the country’s capacity to defend itself against extremist attacks.

“Those threats to the international order, to our European values, to our way of life were brought home to us in terrorists acts on the streets of Paris last week” the minister said.

“It is at these times we look to the agility, readiness and responsiveness of our Defence Forces to meet the challenging and changing demands of the new security environment.”

Raco general secretary Commandant Earnan Naughton said if orders were given to take over the peacekeeping duties of the French, the Defence Forces would do the job as they already had vast experience of working in Africa.

Comdt Naughton has urged the Department of Defence to find the money now to equip the Defence Forces to combat any potential threat to this country from Islamic extremists.

He said the Defence White Paper had identified the need to mitigate such a threat and after seeing what had happened in Paris there shouldn’t be any delay in buying jet fighter aircraft and medium to long-range radar.

Many poorer countries have jet fighters in their airforce, but the Air Corps uses aging propellor-driven fighters which were unable to track Soviet-era Russian Tupolev Tu-95 ‘Bear’ nuclear bombers when they entered Irish-controlled airspace on two occasions earlier this year.

The Air Corps planes cannot match the height or speed of such bombers.

The Tupolevs were ‘cloaked’, turning off their transponders and thus leaving Irish Air Traffic Control ‘blind’ on the identity or likely course of the planes.

It resulted in some commercial flights being diverted or grounded as a safety precaution.

The Air Corps is also short of 34 officers and doesn’t have enough pilots for their fixed-wing plans and helicopters.

Many have left to earn more money and enjoy better conditions flying for Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

Comdt Naughton said the vast majority of budget cuts in recent years targeted payroll, forcing a reduction in personnel to stay in line with allocated funding rather than meet the country’s security and defence requirements.