Simon Harris: Ireland should raise its defence budget to €3bn
Tánaiste Simon Harris. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA
Ireland’s military spending should reach the highest possible level — around €3bn annually — in the coming years, the Tánaiste has said.
In an exclusive interview with the while attending the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in South Africa, Simon Harris also said that State bodies will be asked to prove that increased budgets will deliver housing, and that the Irish visits to the US for St Patrick’s Day next month should be used to remind American politicians that “trade is a two-way street”.
Mr Harris, whose new role has seen him take on foreign affairs and defence, said Ireland will hit the middle level of ambition as outlined in the Commission on the Defence Forces report by 2028.
That will bring Ireland’s yearly spending from €1.35bn to €1.5bn. However, he said, the latter figure should be “the floor”, and that the most ambitious figure should be reached in time.
Level of ambition three would see a tripling in the defence budget — to almost €3bn per year.
However, this would provide a “credible defence” comparable to countries that are similar to Ireland.
The report, published in 2022, says that level of ambition three would require Ireland to “develop significantly strengthened capabilities in all domains, with commensurately higher levels of defence spending —of the order of two-and-a-half to three times overall defence spending in recent years”.
It envisages 12 naval vessels, a squadron of combat aircraft, and the army ranger wing having “an organic self-sustainment capability which would include dedicated combat helicopter assets”.
Mr Harris said that this figure should be reached “over time”.
“We’ve committed to getting that to €1.5bn by 2028," he said.
"What I want to say very clearly, and this is in line with the programme for Government, that now has to be the bare minimum. It shouldn’t be seen as the maximum.
"The programme for Government talks about reaching what they call level of ambition two by 2028 and that basically gets to the €1.5bn.
“But I think we are going to have to go further than that in time. And the programme for Government does talk about moving towards level of ambition three.
Mr Harris said that this would mean more investment in “recruitment and retention” and “aggressive procurement”, with a primary radar system weeks away from going to tender.
“I’ve instructed my officials in the Department of Defence to pursue a much more aggressive procurement strategy in terms of radar and sonar.
“We need to get access to this as quickly as possible, because we have obligations to ourselves, and I think we have obligations to the wider world in terms of our coastline.
“We live in a country where our sea space is an awful lot larger than our land space, and we need to make sure we give our Defence Forces, our naval service, and our air corps the capabilities there in terms of monitoring.”
Mr Harris said that there will be work done across Government to ensure that the Defence Forces is attracting people with the skills it needs and keeping them.
“I want to work with colleagues across Government to make sure that a number of the technical skills that we need, the technical skills that we need in the air corps, that we don’t lose them.
“Along with recruitment, we have to do much better on retention because I believe that, if we give the men and women of the Irish Defence Forces the tools and the colleagues, we can absolutely play a really important part in terms of our own defence and security, and also making sure that we’re fulfilling the obligations that I believe we have to the wider European community.”
On housing, Mr Harris said that State bodies like Uisce Éireann — whose budgets are being increased — will be asked to show that the extra funding will go towards housing. Around €1bn of the Apple tax windfall will be given to the water utility, but Mr Harris says he wants to see that money going towards the completion of new homes.
“We’re going to give a load more money to Uisce Éireann from the Apple money. That’s the right thing to do. We need to invest in our water. But I want to know before we give that money that there’s an absolute guarantee that that money is going to be used to increase housing supply. Every single aspect of the State has to be on board here.
“There are so many towns, so many villages in Ireland where you can’t build a house because of an inability to access the appropriate infrastructure.
“I made much of this during the election, and different people had different views, but infrastructure — how we deliver infrastructure more quickly, more efficiently — is vital.
“So a very clear message from from me to all State agencies: If we’re increasing your budget, if we’re increasing your funding, I’m going to be asking time and time again: What are you doing to play your part in responding to the housing emergency?”
Mr Harris yesterday hit out at Sinn Féin for deciding not to travel to the US for St Patrick’s Day.
However, he said he would not offer Taoiseach Micheál Martin any advice on dealing with US president Donald Trump when he travels to the White House.
“I don’t think he needs advice from me. But what I would definitely say as minister of foreign affairs is that the visit by all of us to the US, or by those of us who are going to the US next month, including the Taoiseach, is a real opportunity for us to absolutely mark the very important relationships that exist between our two countries, culturally, economically, historically.
“Also to talk about the relationship of the here and now.
"And I know everybody, including the Taoiseach, will all be using our opportunities to talk about that trade is a two-way relationship. Sometimes you get the impression that it’s not.
“I’m very proud of the impact that Irish companies are making.
"Lots of people who will get up out of bed this morning having voted for Donald Trump in the US presidential election go to work in either Irish-owned companies, or jobs that exist as a result of Irish investments.”
