Fighter jets for the Air Corps?

Military procurement often takes years. You're laughing at something which is perfectly normal.

You're argument we are so remote as be unreachable. All obviously wrong. We've have incidents in recent years including this year. So your dates are wrong also.

@delusiondestroyer An interesting opinion and worth discussing

You present several options

Option 1 Ireland defends itself against a potential agrgessor (you name Russia) and comes off much worse in a bun fight

Option 2 Ireland does nothing

Option 3 Ireland cosies up to the RAF

Your premise in Option 1 is that Ireland cannot defend itself against any likely aggressor. However, if, your example, Russia. was attacking Ireland there are a few things to note. A. It is highly unlikely to attack Ireland unless part of a much wider conflict. In such a scenario it will only have a fraction of its air power to throw at Ireland. B. Only Russia’s relatively small fleet of long range bombers can approach Ireland with malicious intent, no Russian fighter has near the range to get to, and operate over Ireland. They can hurt Ireland, yes, but they could actually be tackled with a fairly modest fighter force when working at such long range without escorts. Let's say the Russians send twenty Bear and Black Swan bombers every day to attack Irish targets. Any, even modest, airforce such as Ireland could field, would get a couple of those every day, and soon deplete the VVS, with the liklihood of few losses on our side.So your suggestion that Ireland cannot realisticly defend itself from, say, Russia, in the air is not really correct.

Option 2 is the ostrich in the sand approach. It works, until it doesn’t. Governments should make assessment of threat and protect their citizens. I am nearly 70 years of age and I have never had my house burn down but I still pay home insurance.

Option 3 is not that easy a fix. You may not be aware of this, but the RAF has, in total, only about 125 combat aircraft, to cover everything. In a major war they have not enough aircraft to cover Ireland. They have in the past actually asked Ireland for assistance with maritime patrol. Basically the problem is our allies (that I what they are, we are not, and have never since 1945, really entirely neutral) expect us to do more. Sure they will base fighters in Ireland, but they will want us to contribute to western defence in a different way, like say building ourself a fleet of anti-submarine frigates. Having a decent fighter force, and an upgraded navy, actually makes us more neutral.

Part of the reason why Sinn Fein have now started to jump on the bandwagon of a fighter force for Ireland is that it is dawning on them that in a multipolar world the only form of actual neutrality is armed neutrality and Ireland is just about big enough and rich enough to do that credibly, although it probably means in real terms tripling our defence spending. Alas the days of neglecting our security are probably over.

mentions that the procurement for aircraft is ongoing alongside ships and radar.

seems the noise is finally getting louder on this front and I hope the meek media we have in this country for once pushes this more and more

Won't fund the aircorps?

Well you said they wouldn't shell out for defence. Well they are.

You are obsessed with the Russians. You'd have to assume you must think they are an issue due the sheer number of times you have referred to them.

I gave a few reasons and talked of policing our airspace and marine, from incidents that have already happened and recently. You've talked about some fantasy war, Russians and Nuclear war and shooting down ICBMs. Thus far you've been factually incorrect on everything.

Incidentally. You're a bit late. They already got new ships, that ship has literally sailed.

@delusiondestroyer There are a few things that seem apparent:

1. the world is becoming more dangerous. Wars which ten years ago only happened in other continents are now happening much closer to home. We can argue about who is responsible for the worsening international situation (both sides have blame IMHO) but the situation is worsening. The possibility of a wider war cannot be discounted. Both sides have hightened the stakes so much that neither side can afford to lose. The possibility of significant escalation is real, not a certainty by any means, but substantial nevertheless. It would be very negligent of the Irish government not to reassess Ireland's defence and security apparatus in light of this.
2. Ireland, in a wider war, may become a target. Even though we, as a people, do not really buy into all the "west is the best" bull, by ties of geography, economics, diaspora etc, we are, for al intents and purposes, part of the west and most threats to us are likely to come from people opposed to the "west" and its agenda. Even though that is unfair, we really have not hurt anyone very much, it is still a significant possibility.
3. We need to find out which way Ireland can best protect its people from likely threats. The threat of a country, out of the blue, attacking Ireland is remote, but again, in a wider conflict we are unlikely to be left alone. We also can see that as part of a wider war, given that no countries or blocs resources are infinite, an aggressor would have only limited resources to attack Ireland with. This means that Ireland has the option of having a credible defence position which could act to deter aggression, and if it happened, limit its effects.
4. We have three options, a. do nothing, b. enterinto a defence pack, which for reasons I have noted above will mean a significant contribution from Ireland as the cost of joining the club, or c. Reaffirming our neutral status, but taking steps to ensure that the state has the capacity to deflect likely actions taken against it. I think that c. has the most merit and, when the situation is explained to them, is the route that the Irish public are most likely to want to go down.
5. As a side note. Russia and the rest are not the only threat to Ireland. Brexit has revealed a side to the British right that has shocked many. While it is inconcievable that at present the UK would ever be an aggressor to Ireland, who knows what might be the case in ten or twenty years. If for example Scotland became independent, especially if it declared any kind of UDI, a British civil war would be possible. The last time Britain had a civil war a largely defenceless Ireland had to cope with Oliver Cromwell. Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Actually that was in reply to you saying we've never been attacked and can't be due to our geographical location. All obviously wrong. I never said we needed 30 fighters or linked to a source that did. So also wrong. Why are referencing 2020 if nothing has happened since 1942. Again wrong.

All you've posted a litany of factual errors.

The reasons for them are clearly outlined in the various report and studies. I can't read them for you.

England DID allow Ireland to be attacked. It's a fact of history.

Ireland been landed from the sea, countless times, invaded. How is that geographically safe. Lol.

You can use a fighter jet to control air space, in peacetime. It can be used to search, reconnaissance, training. They are not solely used in war.

So sorry they did it multiple times lol.

Unless our Geography has changed, how it didn't save us in the past, it seems entirely relevant.

"Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

"We don't need those things......what do they do again?" lol.

Nice rant that's unsurprisingly all wrong as usual.

Your trolling is becoming tiresome.

So too is your ignorance of the deteriorating security situation in Europe and the north Atlantic, very definitely not to exclude Ireland.

Fact: three days ago, the UK Defence secretary announced the Government there had approved the sending of long range air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles to the Ukrainian forces. A missile almost impervious to air defence systems, it could cause devastation of Russian formations and indeed to strategic targets in the near border area of Russia proper. The Russian authorities are enraged by this escalation.

Fact: Russian government survey vessels, deployed with Russian naval surface vessels and submarines have been identified loitering over a multitude of undersea pipelines and cables in the North Sea, Baltic Sea, Arctic Ocean,Celtic Sea, English Channel and North Atlantic proper, including the territorial waters and EEZs of a dozen or more EU and/or NATO states. Including Ireland.

Considering the Russians invented the false flag operation over a hundred years ago (Maskirovka: The Disguise) and that they already blew up the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline, it would be beyond naive to think that energy and communications infrastructure linking Ireland to NATO states would not be under threat, because of the involvement of those NATO states in supplying offensive weapons to Ukraine.

The Russians don't care that Ireland is militarily non-aligned, we have been sanctioning Russia, seizing their assets in the IFSC, deporting Russians who are a threat and engaging in serious diplomatic fall outs with their embassy, humiliating their Ambassador and allowing permanent protests at their facilities.

And so, your deliberate obtuseness around the hybrid threat environment in which Ireland exists and against which it must defend, is ignorant, naive, childish and stupid. And nobody here thinks you have a scrap of credibility in anything you say.