Call for Irish defence attachés in key embassies abroad

The Department of defence has on ongoing project examining the establishment of military liaison officers in key embassies abroad.

The Department of Defence has been urged to “speedily” establish military liaison officers in key embassies abroad, with Ireland being described as a “complete outlier” among nations in not having defence attachés.

The Commission on the Defence Forces (CDF), which reported in February 2022, called for the “immediate creation” of a network of defence attachés — a move first suggested as worth exploring in the department’s own White Paper on Defence 2015.