Interesting articles

Well the Type 45's are likely what they are looking at, and they at least have improving availability, but realistically none of this is likely to be "out of the blue" for the UK or France, the Department is unlikely to have floated ideas like embedding officers on allies ships or in the command structures without said governments being talked to already and agreeing to it.

As for actual shot down actions, is it any different than whatever "agreement" we have with the UK for RAF protection?

As a side note, really interesting that the Indo seems to have decided to ignore this week's defence news, they had a couple of small insight articles on Cathal Brugha Barracks (good, hopefully reduce the "make it housing" BS), but nothing on the Arms deal, or on the MSS today? The IT has given much better coverage.

”public money”…

As opposed to what RTÉ? Everything the state buys is funded by “public money”

Its not really as Mupper said the Griffon is not a APC as such. It will be used for more support as a Motar carrier etc and Eng units. The Griffon also will not carry a Irish section.

The person who wrote it has a cousin who owns a tyre shop.

No, thats not relevant. Survivability is about the protection inherent in the design of the vehicle, and the redunancy designed into the driveline, not the number of wheels.

And lets be clear, the Griffon is 7,000 kgs heavier than a Mowag, because it is a modern platform with all the lesson of Afghanistan designed in, including ballistic protection and modular armour to NATO L4.

And to be clear also, Griffon is indeed an armoured personnel carrier, in its basic 'Félin' model.

Where a Piranha III 8x8 can carry 3 (commander, driver and gunner) + 5 troopers, the Griffon can carry 2 (driver, gunner) + 8 infantry with kit. With the additional saving, due to the networked operation that each vehicle doesn't need a commander, the driver will take his cues remotely from a unit CO.

And so, though the French have turned Griffon into something like 10 different iterations so far, at its basic, it IS an APC, and it IS superior to the Piranha III in every measurable metric, except for top speed on road, which is 90, rather than 100 km/h.

The initial 150 Bn was an initial tranche of of an objective of 800 Bn. I'd be surprised if a second tranche isn't agreed before the Irish presidency.

The reason Paschal Donoghue didn't want to engage with this is because he didn't want to be borrowing money from the EU at higher interest rates than the market if we had to borrow any money at all.

We shouldn't voluntarily be increasing our debt servicing burden in the next 30 years when we don't have to.

This is only beneficial to countries with higher borrowing costs.

I'm totally against it because it makes no fiscal sense for Ireland to borrow through that mechanism.

Late in the day, and clearly a mess with Healy's visit cancelled yesterday and the mixed stories currently with the Telegraph saying its not happening and blaming the Chancellor, while the BBC is saying it is because she overrode the Treasury to avoid the closure.

Messy either way in optics.

i Know this is hard but somehow the UK MOD is making the irish DOD not be the only clowns around.

https://www.army-technology.com/news/live-no-decision-made-says-uk-mod-amid-helicopter-deal-reports/?cf-view

The Journal reporting that the British PM and four cabinet secretaries will lead a delegation for the annual British-Irish summit in the week before Paddy's Day.

The venue is somewhere unnamed in east Cork, presumably Castlemartyr or Fota Island.

That should be a useful dry-run for the EU presidency protocols.

Assuming the situation in the Middle East hasn't deteriorated to the extent that Starmer is too preoccupied to travel.

They're being paid, and accommodated. If the food isn't up to scratch, they should complain up the chain.

Just pick 30 guys best versed in what skills are needed and order them onto a plane. Back in 8 weeks, no whining.

If Helen reads the below she might get notions.

As revealed by La Tribune , Irish Defence Minister Helen McEntee confirmed on Tuesday that France had been identified as the preferred partner for the future armored vehicle fleet for her army 

"

The contract for Phase I of the special operations force HQ at the Curragh has been signed.

The project will be delivered in 3 phases for a total of about €50 million.

Givwn the demands across the continent for Air Defence?
I hope our EU friends are more magnanimous than we deserve.

This shouldn't be an "I told you so" moment, given the sheer danger inherent in the world currently.
But as many, many posters here have warned for years, almost decades at this point.
The inability of our politicians to see Defence as a priority, to ensure we equip our forces adequately has spectacularly come home to roost.

The generosity of our EU neighbours and hopefully, the disinterest of the EU's enemies are where our defence currently lays.