Ireland is addicted to contracting away all kinds of State capacity

By treating governance as contract administration, we are letting our sovereignty erode gradually through every decision we outsource, writes Paul Davis

In healthcare ICT, the Children’s Health Ireland group has bought systems that cannot perform basic functions. Medical histories have vanished, appointments have disappeared, and even managers cannot log into their own accounts. File picture

Tony Geraghty’s warning earlier this year in the Irish Examiner about the strategic costs of outsourcing Ireland’s defence deserves serious attention. 

As a former Naval Service officer, he understands what happens when capability gaps turn into dependency. But the problem runs deeper than airspace monitoring or maritime surveillance.