State needs to treble spending on defence, officers warn

Lieutenant Colonel Conor King said the Government's commitment to increased spending was 'wavering'.

The Government has “no time to waste” in fully implementing commitments it has made to significantly invest in Ireland’s defence and security, officers in the Defence Forces have said.

Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) has urged the Government to adhere to its pledge to effect the second of three investment options laid out by the Commission on Defence Forces, published in February 2022.

However, it warned that given the scale of global insecurity, including the ongoing threat from Russian aggression, the country should move “without delay” to the third investment option for the armed forces.

In July 2022 the Government approved the second option (LOA 2) set out by the commission and committed to an annual Defence budget equivalent to €1.5bn by 2028.

The third option (LOA 3) would see defence spending treble to €3bn.

LOA 2 still promises significant investment, including a net increase of 2,000 personnel, a primary radar system, and nine ships and double crewing.

In a paper, Lieutenant Colonel Conor King, general secretary of RACO, said that while positive progress has been made in various allowances, health benefits and industrial relations matters, the Government’s commitment to LOA 2 was wavering.

He said Budget 2024 increased the Defence Vote to €1.23bn. A rise in the capital spend of €176m in that budget was hailed as a record but pointed out that it was “coming from a very low base”, with Ireland stuck at the bottom of the EU table for defence expenditure.

He said Tánaiste Micheál Martin told the Dáil last March that defence spending increased by €210m over two years, but the RACO chief said this translated to “a meagre” rise of 3.3%, or €40m, in the last year.

'Lack of urgency'

In his paper, published by Azure Forum Strategic Insights, the RACO chief said this indicates an “apparent lack of urgency” by the Government.

“Moreover, the gradual move towards the bare minimum LOA 2 by 2028 arguably ignores the significant destabilising developments in geopolitical security precipitated by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent response of many other European nations in beefing up their defence investment or in the case of formerly fellow neutrals Finland and Sweden joining Nato," he said.

Lieutenant Colonel King acknowledged “positive” developments, including a significant increase in Naval Service allowances, the extension of private healthcare to all, and the removal of the blanket exclusion of personnel from the working time directive in addition to new legislation allowing for associate membership of the ICTU.

But he said there was a “sting in the tail” in that the Department of Defence is now attempting to impose what Oireachtas members described as a “gagging order” on representative associations prohibiting them from commenting on government policies.

“Personnel acknowledge that there is much important work being done to implement the recommendations of the Commission and are starting to see some green shoots of recovery," he said.

“Nevertheless, recent geopolitical developments mean that we have no time to waste in fully implementing the Commission recommendations and moving without delay towards LOA 3.” 

He said a key indicator was that the strength of the organisation has fallen, by 1,000 personnel, since 2022, to a low of around 7,500.