DF Commission Report

For the West coast Killybegs would be probaly the only one fit to go with Full access. I dont think there is any other port really good enoght. Galway is controlled and Sligo i think is tidal as well

I understand thay Army HQ will be more than likely in Athlone as there is very Strong poltical will behind it. But weather our Generals will want to cross the shannon is another story

From whom?

There are literally zero heavy hitters in Longford-Westmeath to swing that kind of investment, especially as you say if there is Brass resistance.

Assuming Navy HQ remains sensibly in Cork, the Army HQ will almost surely be in Dublin. Besides, being Army HQ could be a small business park it doesn't need to be an actual operational base. In fact, its probably better if it isn't.

For example, British Army Headquarters is a low rise campus in Hampshire between an industrial estate and a railway line. Its got one helipad.

Being geographically central in Ireland is meaningless.

All the transport links are Dublin centric, ie you can get to Donegal and South Kerry still quicker from Dublin, by road or rail, than from Athlone. And wherever it ends up being located, you'd expect its digital communications capacity to be state of the art regardless.

There is also no military justification for it being located centrally, save for the risk of a seaborne invasion!

Its a strange rec by the Commission and one I don't think should hold any sway.

I'd understand much more if they said, lets look at a few reasonable sized towns and give the investment of locating Army HQ to the most deprived, to get a bit of cash rolling around local businesses. Somewhere like a Longford, Navan or Claremorris. Because really, for its intended function, it could be anywhere, but probably should remain near Dublin.

Had a look at the committee hearing. Coveney was impressive as others have commented and seems personally invested in delivering this. Certainly the committee members didn’t engage in play acting and seemed supportive of the direction of travel. The sign off by Dper on pay elements is important, as with the changes in ministers in about 2 months will see things grind to a halt. There is a huge amount in the report and to be fair there is a lot of unglamorous structures, operational, tendering and design work to be done to ensure that what is being worked on is sustainable. I still think the recruitment / retention piece will be a struggle, but I hope to be proven wrong. Big investment in Haulbowline, (70 M) but is much of that cleaning up the rest of the old steel works? Coveney seemed committed to more missions abroad- I would like to have heard more on that - AC / NS ? Another piece is engaging with EU defence initiatives- but maybe it was out of scope on the session. Anyways my initial impressions.

Was there recently a Naval Service presentaion which showed Hangers amd helipads at the base?

Foks before Cavan barracks was shut down, they invested heavily in a brand new barracks at enterance to tje town, that was sold for peanuts to the ETB, close to Midlands and border and would not take much investment, never understood its withdrawal in tbe first place but the building and security fence is there already

I daresay thats a very long way off indeed.

In relation to Gormanstown being a main training base would they not be better of taking back Cavan, Mullingar or Longford where the infastructure is in place with just refurb needed and use them as the training base. I presume new building will have to be built in gormanstown for this to work there?

Of course you can they are still state owned. They can simply transfer the ownership back

Completely agree.

None of those former, small, Urban/Suburban Barracks mentioned are suitable for the expansion required, nor the noisier and more challenging aspects of 2-Star level training.

Gormanstown is over 1 million square metres of a site, has loads of scope for new infrastructure and its neighbours are well used to live firing drills.

The Implementation Group (to be Chaired independently) will endorse the delivery action plans and report on performance.

I think those plans are to be made available to the Minister and presumably the Implementation Group before year end.

They're gettin it ready for the new jets!

Stuff like this makes the scope of PESCO look completely redundant. Because it is.

These guys are saying '**** the EU Procurement', going straight to the manufacturers they know and trust and giving them a shopping list. Thats wartime inventory building.

If only the Irish Government had the balls to piggyback this process, talk to NATO and say, 'look, we aren't going to join up and fight with you if it comes to it, BUT, we understand your logic about 'sky shield' and if you help us fast track equipment purchase, we will look after our own back yard and at least plug a potential weak spot.

But think about the landing fees in Shannon airport and all the sambos that where sold