National Security
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-16
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

We all agree the world we are living in now is changing and the types of threats we are facing are changing. We are no longer just thinking about warfare in terms of land incursions and what we are seeing, whether it is in Ukraine or elsewhere in the world. Hybrid threats are happening on a daily basis that are impacting people's day-to-day lives and businesses. Perhaps, there are also more sinister threats across Europe and the world. We have to be clear we are not immune to these types of threats and that is why we are investing the way we are in our Defence Forces.
The capital plan I announced last week provides for a 55% increase in spending on the previous capital plan. I will look to make sure we can do as much as we can with that and where and if possible, to increase that further. Our current spending on the Defence Force in the past four years alone has increased by about 40%. If we look at the work being done following on from the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces and I am pleased that last year, for the first time in many years, investment in personnel did not go down but remained steady and is now starting to increase this year. We are finally starting to see an increase. There is an investment in the men and women of the Defence Forces and in our technology and equipment. A huge amount of work is also being done with the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána to make sure we have the appropriate measures and responses in place.
For security matters, the House will appreciate there are things that cannot and should not be said when it comes to our security and it is important our Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána can work effectively. There are certain things that cannot be said but they are working extremely well together. We are looking, as we always need to do, to see what the emerging threats are and whether there is more we need to do on how we need to increase our capabilities. That is exactly what we are doing with the new radar system and with our counter-drone technology. If there is more we need to do, that is certainly something I, as Minister for Defence, will make clear in my engagement with Government colleagues, as well as within the Defence Forces.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-16