'Alarm bells are ringing' around Russia, former Defence Forces chief warns

Mark Mellett, said: “Effectively the Russian Federation was able to declare it was going to annex 5,000 square kilometres where we have sovereign rights for five days." Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Planned Russian war games 200km off the Irish coast are a “wake up call'' to Europe, the former Defence Forces Chief of Staff has said.

Addressing an Institute of International and European Affairs panel discussion, former Vice Admiral Mark Mellett said: “Alarm bells are ringing and Europe needs to learn the language of power”. 

Pointing to weaknesses in aspects of the country's defences, he said Ireland needed a “more robust cyber-defence infrastructure”. 

He also warned that Ireland will see more of the sort of cyberattacks that crippled the HSE last year. 

Mr Mellett repeated concerns he has about the budget Ireland allocates to its Defence Forces.

“Overall in the context of investment on defence, Ireland is number 27 of 27 in EU investment in defence,” he said. He said investment in defences is an “insurance premium”.

“Sovereign rights that are not upheld are more imaginary than real, and we've seen the vulnerability of our sovereign rights in terms of our maritime domain,” he said.

Effectively the Russian Federation was able to declare it was going to annex 5,000 square kilometres where we have sovereign rights for five days. That's unprecedented.

Mr Mellett also said the EU “must acquire capabilities that it doesn’t already have”.

He said: “Europe can only learn the language of power if it actually changes towards a strategic culture.” 

He added that acquiring extra “capabilities” doesn't mean replication and duplication with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) but would mean “complementarity” with it.

While he voices his concerns about the Defence Forces’ ability to defend itself, especially in the air and at sea, he also said there are things Ireland and Europe can do to avoid being dependent on Russia.

“For as long as Europe is dependent on Russian gas and crude, we will be in a difficult position,” he said.

“We have a remarkable opportunity in Ireland in terms of offshore renewable energy, (and the possibility) of being able to actually mitigate that energy dependency.”