Interesting articles

The sooner they put michael d out to grass the better. To think this fella is the supreme commander of the DF.…it beggars belief.

I thought defence ect for Greenland were handled by Denmark ?

Hmm…Not a huge population in DM either! Amazed they can raise a credible army from such a tiny population? Maybe theyve been poachin ours!

Do they have a post-Brexit, arse-hurt, anti Irish tint off them, just like so many other British papers and periodicals? Yes, absolutely. And as with all the others, its just noisy Tory types looking for an angle. It has no material effect.

Is it racist? No, not a bit.

One of the CASA's is up off the West Coast monitoring one of the Russian "Shadow Fleet" tankers according to the IT, with the possibility of the Navy being sent as well.

There's a lot a lot of shadow fleet tankers ,and their transponders- as well as their anchors have been known to fail at inopportune moments.. a naval vessel shadowing them is no bad thing, I'm assuming that putting a brace of 76mm rounds into an oil tanker might have a downside ..

Trying to Board an oil tanker that doesn't want to be boarded from a rib ,in the Atlantic is probably not a great plan , so I assume the air-corp would be involved,

Oops.

I would flip that assessment and express greater concern for the flimsy nature of the rather ancient wall.

Not necessarily in recent years. Vehicles used for utility and admin often don't.

Personally I think they should, but they either have a ÓnahÉ badge on the door in the case of black staff cars, or the Unit Number in the back window in the case of a van such as this.

By treating personal with there rights like every other employee in the country i wonder will operations be effected due to the current staffing numbers.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2025/0121/1492007-working-time-defence-forces/

This is a double edge sword for the DF, there are plenty of people not doing their hours!!

An the blame game as started.

https://www.thejournal.ie/high-level-crisis-meeting-among-defence-forces-chiefs-as-naval-gun-crisis-deepens-6602434-Jan2025/

It is impossible for me to understand, no matter how much I try, why this state is so uniquely ignorant and reckless with it's own national security.

my sense is the understanding is there more than ever regarding our responsibility for our national security within the policy making levels. Indeed, there is an increasing view even within the civil service we should be joining the likes of NATO or EU arrangements. Our idiosyncratic approach is becoming harder to sustain against the lived experience of other EU partners and ultimately our own national self interest.

However, the political override switch is needed to help resolve manning issues in the first instance, the official view has been a gradualist approach will work, clearly not and reflects a complete ignorance of the high skilled nature of the job and the ‘transfer market’that exists for niche skills. Secondly, an issue that acts on a handbrake is the form of pacifism that has infected our consideration of defence policy. While those in the policy area largely get it, there are decades of inertia, public perception and political posturing to overcome.

The evidence of a considered and sustainable defence policy can be seen from the Commission on Defence. As in Ireland or to be fair any transformation project implementation cannot be slow,or uneven. It now needs the political impetus to push through obstacles. The situation where we now have vessels literally tied up because of core skill shortages is scandalous, and now where the ‘adults’ are going to intervene because of this is shameful.