Interesting articles

Its the same situation in the DF, financial undertakings, I did it myself. The DF fund XYZ, then you repay by serving time or buying yourself out. So, the private company paid DOD whatever was outstanding.

The problem for the DF is, the personnel have to want to be there, to eh, be there. Its not a 9-5 that you just mindlessly get up and go to every day. Personnel need to be motivated to stay.

Having a mandatory service contract is a bit more complex. The main thing you need is a deterrent to stop people going AWOL. We don't really use military prisons anymore. There's not much stopping people from going AWOL if mandatory time is brought in.

What would I do? Firstly, I'd understand their motivations for leaving. Then go from there.

A bit from the Business Post

The state will provide security and surveillance for privately owned sub-sea internet cables in Ireland following the suspected attack on the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline into Germany.

Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for communications, said the Department of Environment, the Department of Defence and several private companies who own the cables met in the aftermath of the Nord Stream 1 leak two weeks ago. At the meeting, the government agreed to provide increased surveillance of their cables.

The Business Post understands that surveillance will be carried out on Ireland’s underwater energy and communications infrastructure through greater air patrols, naval patrols, and even the use of submersible drone technology.

It comes as the European Commission announced plans to increase the protection of undersea internet cables last Wednesday. “It is in the interest of all Europeans to better protect this critical infrastructure,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said.

Dont worry there will be a big press release next year when the two 295s go opertional and how they will sort the surveillance issue. Just dont ask what happens when one is in for service and the other is doing transport duties

The 295s have some level of Bathymetric LIDAR, which can detect submarines and mines, depending on their configuration.

We'll never be told exactly what the power and resolution of the system is, but unless we had both aircraft flying 24/7 and Naval ASW assets to back them up then its kinda pointless.

Skip past the headline but in the story it appears Gormanston as a recruit training base is up and running

https://www.derrynow.com/news/crime---courts/954968/conditional-discharge-for-irish-army-bound-man-after-mad-night.html

Yes. At the end of basic you are a 2 star private.

He's right in what he says....

The Scorpion is a good machine. But I thought they had been retired? Or are they just gathering dust in an auld shed in the Curragh?

What are you, his mother?

I don't argue with the bare facts, it is though, as I said, a sh1t article.

If the the state offeref a VA style Mortage here it would help recruitment and retention

What has search and rescue got to do with neutrality??

During the Cold War we had instances where NATO and Soviet ships and aircraft landed and berthed in Ireland in connection with searches for stricken vessels and planes, obviously the most frequent being British Sea Kings and Nimrods, who assisted us hundreds of times when we didn't have the air assets to conduct an open ocean search.

Indeed LÉ Róisín was nearly sunk by damage sustained in phenomenal seas en route to the Canadian hunter-killer sub Chicoutimi, fire damaged and adrift far out off Mayo in 2004.

Huh?

Given how limited they are, I’m ok with this tbh.

You know they'll just replace them with more civvy spec and paint them dark grey instead of green.

Of course it is, the DUP being thrown a bone before the bus comes.

They'll be able to argue that HW couldn't possibly get work in a United Ireland because Ireland doesn't have a big military industrial complex to supply it.

Which will ignore the fact that Harlands hasn't had a tap of shipbuilding work, of any kind, since 2002.