Defence Matters: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Malcolm Noonan (GP), Agricultural Panel

I will make a few points in this important debate. In general, the State buying military equipment is not really like going down the central aisle of Lidl or Aldi. We are buying capability. Armoured cars, ships and anti-drone capability come with people, weapons, training, doctrine, locations, storage and, of course, time. They are human-resource heavy and I do not see a huge effort. I welcome that the numbers in the Defence Forces are moving in the right direction. Young people watching social media and TV see plenty of ads for the British army, the RAF, the royal marines and the British navy. We should be seeing them for the Defence Forces here before GAA matches, encouraging our young people. The Reserve Defence Force was wiped out by a Government or Department review but it was a very effective means of recruiting young men and women into the Defence Forces. It is something we should give consideration to.
I welcome the discourse here today. Notwithstanding the issues in the debate on neutrality and the triple lock, it is also important that we work collaboratively to restore a sense of pride among our Defence Forces personnel, equip them and give them the capability for the security of the State and peacekeeping. A UK Government report launched in January put out the proposition that climate breakdown and ecological breakdown are the biggest global security threats right now. We are all talking about security threats but climate breakdown is probably the biggest one and probably the cause of many of the conflicts we see now.
My late dad, Terry, served three tours of duty in the Congo. At the time in the 1960s, we had the capability to send out over 1,000 troops. Today, we struggle to put out 300 on the ground. My dad served 37 years in the Defence Forces. He was very proud of his service but also deeply concerned about how it had been ignored by successive governments.
I will come back to the issue of climate resilience and the weather patterns we are having here. This is about dual capabilities, buying equipment and providing aid to civil authorities Our Defence Forces and our Naval Service should be given the capability to deal with the issues around the storms we have had and the increased frequency of storms. During my term of office we had fires in our national parks and we had to bring in helicopters from Scotland. While we are purchasing equipment, and I welcome the increased investment in equipment, we should give consideration to supporting the likes of the National Parks and Wildlife Service to maintain the assets of the State. This is the property of the State. Our national parks, our maritime area, our marine protected areas and our nature reserves are all equally important to the security of the State.
I thank the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann because it has a proud history and a proud tradition. I feel very proud of my father and that we have a family tradition in the Defence Forces. I urge the Minister to work across government to ensure that our Defence Forces have the capability to carry out their functions effectively and diligently, and that we have the personnel and the numbers, particularly in the marine area and the Naval Service, to do this work effectively. I add my praise to the men and women of the Defence Forces, particularly on their overseas missions, of which we have a proud tradition in my family.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25