Micheál Martin on the forum on our future: ‘We must deal with the world as it now is’

Ireland needs to understand and respond to the security threats that abound in the new global reality, writes Tánaiste Micheál Martin

This forum is about seeking to build a deeper understanding of the international security environment and the policy options available to the State.

Over the course of the last few years, we have seen major and irrevocable changes in the international security environment.

In particular, we have seen the blatant violation by Russia of the UN Charter and of Europe’s collective security, through its illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.

Closer to home, the cyberattacks on our health service in May 2021, brought home to us the real-world devastation and massive cost that the malicious use of technology can bring.

Our status as an island nation also brings its own specific risks and threats, not least the particular vulnerabilities posed to our national and European energy and communications infrastructure in the waters of the North Atlantic, close to our shores, and within our national territory.

Micheál Martin: 'We cannot isolate ourselves from the wider geopolitical and security environment.' Picture: Niall Carson/PA

It is becoming increasingly clear therefore that we are not insulated from the need to understand, engage with, and respond to this new global and European reality.

We cannot isolate ourselves from the wider geopolitical and security environment and we, therefore, need to take our own security interests, and our responsibilities towards our partners, more seriously than ever before.

It is for these reasons that I am convening our first-ever national consultative forum on International Security Policy.

This forum is about seeking to build a deeper understanding of the international security environment and the policy options available to the State.

It will be a broad discussion, focusing on a range of foreign, security, and defence policy issues.

It will look at Ireland’s role and work over the years to support the rules-based international order, through our engagement in peacekeeping and conflict prevention, as well as our response to threats in the cyber, hybrid, and maritime domains.

Inclusive, informative, and consultative

This will be the first time that our country has ever embarked on a national conversation of this kind and I am determined to ensure that it is inclusive, informative, and consultative in nature.

The forum will take place over the next two weeks; on June 22 at University College Cork, on June 23 at University of Galway, and on June 26-27 at Dublin Castle.

The four days will comprise a number of panel sessions with a wide range of stakeholders and subject experts.

Members of the general public, representative organisations, and invited guests with expertise and practical experience in the areas to be discussed are encouraged to attend.

In-person attendance by the public is being allocated on a first come first served basis, and all discussions will also be live-streamed.

The forum has been specifically designed to ensure that anyone interested in engaging in the process will be able to do so.

A written consultation exercise is also being run in parallel, again this is open to everyone, and I encourage all those with an interest in these issues to make a submission before the deadline of July 7.

Once the forum and consultation process concludes, the independent chair, Professor Louise Richardson will produce a report for consideration.

Of course, there are a range of views about how we should address the international security policy challenges that face us as a country.

No pre-determined outcomes

Differing views and opinions are entirely legitimate and very much welcome in this process.

It is precisely because there are many valid policy options to consider that I have initiated this national conversation, and it is important to emphasise once again that there are no pre-determined outcomes.

Notwithstanding any differences or individual or party political perspectives, it is my firm belief that we as a State and as a nation ultimately must take our own security responsibilities seriously.

Simply put, our starting point in addressing our security must be the world as it is, not the world as we wish it to be or how it might once have been.

As a country, we now have an opportunity to come together and have an honest, respectful, and informed discussion on a really important issue.

I encourage everyone to engage with the forum process in this spirit.

Anyone who wishes to get further information, register to attend the forum itself, or who wants to make a written submission should visit www.gov.ie/consultativeforum

Micheál Martin is Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Minister for Defence