Irish people have a 'degree of naivety' about 'existential threats' from Russia, says Taoiseach
Taoiseach Micheál Martin delivering Ireland’s national statement at the UN General Assembly last week. At the European Political Community meeting on Thursday, the Taoiseach said: 'A clear pattern is emerging if you take everything that's happened over the last number of weeks and months, in terms of drone incursions, in terms of maritime activity among cables and... in terms of the undermining of politics in various member states.' Picture: Government Press Office
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has claimed there is a "degree of naivety" among the Irish public as to the "existential threats" from Russia and other aggressors.
While not explicitly mentioning Ireland, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, told the European Political Community meeting in Copenhagen that while for some the “threat of Russia” seems “further away”, countries can no longer be “naive”.
It follows drone incursions in Denmark that saw airports shut down last week. Ms Frederiksen said she believes Russia was responsible. There were further drone incursions in Estonia and Poland.
Extra security had to be brought in to protect Danish airspace this week as European leaders gathered in Copenhagen for an informal European Council meeting on Wednesday and the European Political Community meeting on Thursday.
The events largely focused on security and defence, as well as Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine.
On his way into Thursday’s meeting, Mr Martin claimed the Irish public do not fully accept the threats facing the union.
“We had a very serious discussion in terms of the threat that Russia is now posing to the European Union and to European Union member states, particularly in terms of the violation of the airspace of quite a number of European member states,” the Taoiseach told reporters.
“A clear pattern is emerging if you take everything that's happened over the last number of weeks and months, in terms of drone incursions, in terms of maritime activity among cables and... in terms of the undermining of politics in various member states.
“There was a very serious sense of that threat. It seems to me that there's a degree of naivety back in Ireland in respect of that. Certainly, the member states and the Eastern European side, the Baltic States in particular, feel this threat and feel it's existential.”
Mr Martin said EU member states are in “no doubt in terms of the broader issue and the recklessness now being manifested by President Putin”. This, he said, includes the incursions in other member states, shadow fleets, and the bombing of EU buildings and the British Council building in Kyiv.
Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, said the bloc needs to learn more, be faster, be better prepared, defend, deter, but detect.
She added: “I think we can learn a lot from Ukraine in its drone expertise, in also understanding that if there are threats, we need to be able to counter them.”
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, however, attempted to play down the threats posed by Russia, saying the population of all the other EU member states combined is far larger.
“Why we are afraid? We are stronger than they are,” he said. “The question is whether we have leadership to come together and to defend our interests together.”
Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, expressed concerns about the “threats directly affecting Poland from our aggressive neighbours, Russia and Belarus” and warned that his country is the only thing separating Europe from Russia.
“No one disputes anymore that our eastern border with Russia and Belarus is the border of all of Europe, of NATO as a whole, and that everyone must take responsibility – including financial and organisational – for protecting it,” he said.
“We are realists. I warned our partners that we do not expect, for example, that a 'drone wall' on our border would eliminate all threats with 100% certainty.”
Meanwhile, it has emerged that new EU legal measures to tackle the Russian shadow fleet and “stress testing” the security of critical sub-sea infrastructure are likely to form part of the forthcoming Maritime Security Strategy.
The Oireachtas Committee on Defence and National Security was told that new cross-Government co-ordination mechanisms, allowing for the secure sharing of information, real-time analysis and better decision making, were also likely to form part of the strategy.
The Maritime Security Strategy is due to be submitted in draft form by officials in the Department of Defence to Tánaiste Simon Harris by the end of the year.
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