Ireland 'cannot rely on goodwill' to rescue citizens overseas, security experts warn

French soldiers prepare to board a military Airbus A400M to evacuate French citizens from Afghanistan today. A lack of air transport capability in the Air Corps means that Ireland often relies in emergency situations on international partners or private contractors to evacuate Irish citizens. Photo: Etat-Major des Armees via AP

Military officers and security experts have again called for urgent investment in air transport to enable the State to fly to foreign crisis situations and rescue trapped Irish citizens.

It comes as Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said there were 23 Irish citizens in Afghanistan and that his department was working with 20 of them who are trying to flee the country.

With no commercial flights in or out of Kabul airport, he said Ireland was liaising with EU countries, along with the US and the UK, in an effort to find alternative routes for Irish citizens.

Commandant Conor King, general secretary of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers said: “RACO has long called for the government to adequately resource our Defence Forces, and strategic airlift is one obvious area where we are sorely lacking. 

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"It was brought into sharp focus during the evacuation of Irish citizens from Libya, frequent delays in deploying and repatriating our people from routine overseas missions, the recent stranding of 2 of our members in the Congo, and now in the current tragic events in Afghanistan.” 

He added: “We cannot continue to rely on the goodwill of other nations for our security. The benefits of this capability are self-evident, not only to safeguard the safety and wellbeing of our troops and citizens, but also as a key component of logistics support.”

Edward Burke, Assistant Professor in International Relations and Director of Conflict, Security and Terrorism, at the University of Nottingham, said a lack of air transport capability in the Air Corps meant that Ireland often relied in emergency situations on international partners or private contractors to extract Irish and other citizens with the right to residency or refuge in Ireland.

“This self-evidently limits options available to Irish officials as they seek to respond to situations such as that in Afghanistan,” he said.

Other similar-sized countries such as New Zealand or Denmark have transport aircraft within their respective air forces that can act quickly and self-sufficiently.

 Having previously served in the EU Police Mission in Afghanistan he pointed out that a number of Afghan citizens employed by the mission were “now at risk”.

He said: “Ireland was a contributor – providing both Gardaí and civilian personnel – to that mission. It is incumbent upon the Irish government and those of other EU Member States to fulfil their responsibilities to those people whose lives are at risk because of the work they undertook on behalf of the European Union in Afghanistan.” 

He called on Ireland and other members of the UN Security Council to press the UN Secretary General to draft a coherent strategy that addresses the rapidly deteriorating political and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

“The UN must also warn the Taliban that any future human rights violations will be dealt with severely, including by the use of targeted sanctions,” he said. “Furthermore, any international recognition of a future Taliban-led government must be dependent on the Taliban proving that it can reconcile with its former adversaries and respect international law.” 

Independent Kildare South TD Cathal Berry, a former officer in the elite Army Ranger Wing, said Ireland’s lack of an independent, strategic airlift capability had been well known for decades, but had been particularly evident in the last 18 months.

“No self-respecting state of our size, particularly an island nation, would allow this situation to occur,” he said.

“Chartering commercial aircraft at short notice, on an ad hoc basis, multiple times a year, is costing the Taxpayer a fortune. These commercial aircraft are rarely available when you need them most and will not fly into contested airspace.” 

He added: “It’s high time Ireland had its own military air transport capability rather than constantly begging for lifts off other armed forces. Developed nation states like ours should not be reduced to the sovereign equivalent of hitchhiking around the globe.”

Security writer Don Lavery said Ireland was one of the few European nations with no military airlift capability: “Over 20 years ago the Irish Air Corps sought a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft - a standard workhorse in air forces around the world - for around £50m, but nothing happened.” 

He said that recent suggestions by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar that Ireland could pick up an airliner cheaply amid the global aviation crisis caused by the pandemic had also come to nothing.

“So, Ireland is unable to protect and rescue about two dozen citizens trapped in Kabul,” Mr Lavery said. “This is shameful, and a dereliction of duty by successive governments.” 

He said that as a member of the UN Security Council it was “embarrassing” that Ireland had no means to rescue its citizens, Afghans or even Irish troops from crisis hotspots.

Last March, Mr Coveney, who is also Minister for Defence, told the Dáil that the principal aim of White Paper on Defence and the Equipment Development Planning (EDP) process was to replace and upgrade existing capabilities.

He said €131 million had been provided in Budget 2021 for capital projects, including three nine-seater Pilatus PC-12 aircraft and two Airbus C295 maritime patrol aircraft.

The minister said that while the option of acquiring “a wider military lift capability” had been mentioned, it was not part of the EDP. The Pilatus was used in July 2020 to repatriate two Irish officers from west Africa.