Departmental Policies Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-21 ============================================================ Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Defence who unfortunately cannot be present today. She sends her apologies. On the Minister's behalf, I welcome the opportunity to respond to Senator Ahearn and thank him for raising this important matter. I know of his interest generally in such affairs. He has taken a great interest in and support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion. If I am not mistaken, I think he was in Kyiv and showed a great understanding of that particular matter. It does not surprise me that he is raising a matter like this. The importance of ensuring a strong local participation framework within Ireland's defence procurement process is timely. As the Senator is well aware of, the programme for Government committed to strengthening Ireland's defence by increasing investment in our capabilities and thereby safeguarding our citizens. The 2026 budget demonstrated that commitment in the most practical manner by allocating €1.49 billion to defence expenditure. In addition, the national development plan sets out a longer term capital investment in defence totalling €1.7 billion from 2026 to 2030. This significant funding increase reflects the Government's commitment to continue to increase investment in our Defence Forces. It will enable targeted progression on key elements of Government commitments from the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. As recently outlined by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, the report aims to speed up the modernisation of the Defence Forces and improve defence capabilities across land, air, maritime and cyber domains. The potential for increased local participation in Ireland's defence procurement process is a timely issue, particularly in the context of a changing security environment, the increased investment in defence capability and the continuing need to ensure value for money for the State. With that in mind, it is important to emphasise that defence procurement is not simply about the acquisition of equipment. It is about the delivery of long term, sustainable capabilities for the Defence Forces. For this reason, the Department has adopted a whole-of-life cycle approach to procurement, encompassing design, acquisition, maintenance and upgrade. Local participation has the potential to play a significant role across each of these phases. As an island nation, Ireland must also consider the practical and strategic implications of overseas dependencies. Transporting platforms or systems for critical components across the Continent for routine maintenance, repair or upgrades can introduce unnecessary costs, extended downtime and operational risks. This is particularly relevant for naval and air assets where availability and responsiveness are critically essential. Where it is feasible, the component with EU and international procurement obligations, local or regional maintenance and support arrangements can specifically reduce turnaround times and improve operational resilience. A sustainable procurement model also supports the development of indigenous skills, expertise and industrial capacity. By embedding local participation requirements such as in-country maintenance, training, technical support or supply chain involvement, the State can help foster specialist eco-systems around key defence assets. Over time, this builds institutional knowledge, reduces reliance on external providers and enhances sovereign capability in critical areas. Furthermore, local participation contributes to broader Government objectives, including regional development, high-value employment and skills retention, particularly in engineering, technology and advance manufacturing. These outcomes align with the whole-of-government approach to resilience and economic sustainability, while remaining consistent with our policy of military neutrality. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, is conscious that any such framework must be proportionate, legally robust and deliver clear value for money. It must also balance openness and competition with long-term strategic benefit. Work is ongoing to ensure that future defence procurement fully considers life-cycle costs, sustainability and opportunities for meaningful local participation. In light of ongoing geographical tensions and the lessons learned from Covid-19, supply chain resilience and security of supply have become increasingly important in the context of national security. With that in mind, the Minister will look to ensure an appropriate amount of diversification among suppliers to ensure a resilient, efficient and secure supply chain. A well-designed local participation framework is both pragmatic and beneficial. It strengthens defence capabilities, improves availability, supports resilience and ensures the investment in defence delivers lasting benefits for the State and Irish society as a whole. --- 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/seanad/2026-01-21/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-21