Simon Harris: Ireland should raise its defence budget to €3bn

In an exclusive interview, Tánaiste Simon Harris says the raised €1.5bn defence budget target should be 'the floor', and that State agencies must prioritise housing projects

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 Irish Examiner 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”.