Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2024-05-16
============================================================

Brendan Smith (FF), Cavan-Monaghan

I spoke to the Tánaiste previously about the opportunity that exists to provide much-needed additional accommodation for our Army. Unfortunately, the most modern army barracks in Europe, which opened in 1990, was closed in 2012. As the Tánaiste knows, Dún Uí Néill is centrally situated in the Border region. The next Army barracks, Aiken Barracks, is to the east, in Dundalk, and there is also Finner Camp, County Donegal. Therefore, a large tract of the Border area does not have an Army barracks. In view of the geopolitical situation and the security assessment, the Tánaiste must urgently consider the reopening of Dún Uí Néill, first as a forward operating base and then as a full Army barracks.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-05-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-05-16