Paul Murphy spoke about defence spending and the Commission report, warning against Ireland joining an arms race while supporting better conditions for Defence Forces personnel. He rejected large-scale purchases and argued extra military spending would divert resources from homes and public services.
Budget figures cited
The minister outlined the 2022 defence allocation as presented in Budget 2022, stating a total gross allocation of £1,107,000 comprising £836,000,000 for vote 36 (defence) and £271,000,000 for vote 35 (pensions). The National Development Plan was cited as allocating multiannual funding of £566,000,000 to Defence out to 2025, with annual amounts of £141,000,000 for 2022 and 2023 and £142,000,000 for 2024 and 2025.
Commission report recommendations
Murphy summarised the Commission report’s practical requests, including improved troop protection for demanding overseas roles, enhanced primary radar capacity, strengthened military intelligence and cyber defence, increased naval presence via double crewing, and greater mobile and long-range lift capacity. He said the report emphasised capability development, interoperability and a higher level of ambition for Defence.
Opposition to major procurement and prioritisation concerns
He said he disagreed with many aspects of the report, including repeated references to NATO and interoperability and the idea of buying a squadron of jet aircraft or warships. He warned against increasing spending by €2 billion a year or by €500 million a year, noting that only £20 million of the £500 million or £2 billion extra from the report is targeted at improving living conditions for Defence Forces personnel. He argued that large arms purchases would primarily benefit the military-industrial complex and could instead fund homes, healthcare or education.
Neutrality and a proposed constitutional measure
Murphy accused the government and right-wing media commentators of launching a "war on neutrality" and said his side would bring forward a bill to push neutrality into the constitution. He challenged the government to respond to that proposal and to justify any move toward ramping up military spending.
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Minister, the armaments industry, the merchants of death, have seen their stock prices rise dramatically in recent weeks as the brutal invasion of Ukraine has an impact and the arms race which has begun in the aftermath of that or really has accelerated. The Irish Government unfortunately seems to be planning to join that arms race, presumably it will get a boost from the meeting in Versailles today, so I am asking what the Government's position is. Just to respond to the question that was put in writing, on an annual basis the overall defence vote group allocation is determined within the overarching budgetary framework and the approval of Dail Eireann, having regard to the level of resources available to defence policy requirements. Thus, for 2022, the total gross allocation provided for the defence vote group as set out in budget 2022 was £1,107,000, comprising of £836,000,000 for vote 36, which is defence, and £271,000,000 for vote 35, which is the pensions vote. The capital funding allocations are also framed by the multiannual national development plan. The White Paper on Defence, updated in 2019, highlighted the importance of capability development and the necessity for continued renewal, upgrade and acquisition of military equipment and infrastructure. To this end, the National Development Plan has allocated multiannual funding of £566,000,000 to Defence out to 2025, with an allocation of £141,000,000 per annum provided for 2022 and 2023, and £142,000,000 for 2024 and 2025. Many of the military equipment projects are complex, multi-annual, and have long lead-in times, so the funding certainty now provided by the National Development Plan is welcome, and it will enable the Department and the Defence Forces to plan, prioritise and deliver on scheduled projects in the coming years. Debby, I know what you want me to get to, rather than giving you a long, drawn-out factual answer, is are we likely to increase spending on defence on the basis of what's happening in Ukraine right now, and serious questions in terms of the security issues on the continent of Europe, and, of course, in parallel with that, the report that we have got from the Commission. I do think we are likely to increase defence expenditure on the back of the Commission report, primarily. Some of that will be, of course, military equipment, ammunition, weaponry, but it will also be upgrading standards within our barracks and improving training facilities, armour and so on. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Firstly, to be clear, we are in favour of spending to ensure that Defence Forces personnel are not living in conditions of poverty. Only £20 million of the £500 million or £2 billion extra from the report is in relation to that. But we are in favour of doing that. But we are not in favour of trying to win an arms race that can't be won. It certainly can't be won by Ireland. We are not in favour of increasing spending by €2 billion a year, buying an intercept capability, the acquisition of a squadron of jet combat aircraft, naval ships, etc., or even the additional €500 million a year. One simple reason for that is that that is 2,000 homes. That is 2,000 homes every single year that could be built instead. And if the Government makes that choice, to give the money to these big military industries, primarily in the US, presumably, then it is making a choice to prioritise that over homes or healthcare or education or whatever else. I do not know if you have had a chance to read the report, but the recommendation is that we would increase our level of ambition around Defence and Defence resourcing. And specifically what they are asking us to do is to improve troop protection for more demanding roles overseas. Do you disagree with that? To enhance situational awareness in terms of primary radar capacity. Do you disagree with that? To significantly strengthen military intelligence and cyber defence capabilities. Do you disagree with that? To increase naval presence by essentially double crewing so we can have ships at sea more often to do the work that they have been asked to do. Do you disagree with that? To enhance mobile and lift capacity in terms of long-range lift capacity. Should we have to get our people or our troops out of parts of the world quickly because they are in danger? Do you disagree with that? This is the practical realities in terms of capacity improvements that the Commission is asking us to consider and spend money on. So that our troops are better equipped, better armed, better protected, have better training facilities, are increased in number so that they can do the job that we ask them to do. Yes, I have read the report and I disagree with the report. I disagree with close to 50 mentions of NATO all talking about the need for interoperability and so on. Yes, that makes me suspicious. Yes, I disagree with buying a squadron of jet aircraft. I disagree with buying warships. Yes, yes, it absolutely is recommended. 6.11. It absolutely is. The government likes to shy away from it. And I also see it in a certain context, which is that a war on neutrality is being launched by the government and by right-wing media commentators. And that we are going to ramp up military spending. And there is a logic of ramping up military spending. Well then, we are going to use that for something. And instead, we are saying we need to copper fasten and protect neutrality. We are going to bring forward a bill to push neutrality into our constitution. I would be interested in what the government's response to that. And we think that is a much better way of going than engaging in this arms race that simply cannot be won. The only winners of which is the big military industrial complex. Sorry, Michael. Minister, to conclude. Deputy, the report does not recommend that the government moves to purchase a squadron of fighter aircraft. There are three options for government. Level of ambition one, which is to stay as we are. Level of ambition two, which is to add the kind of capacity that I have just put on the record. And level three, which is to increase military capacity more significantly in line with what most countries, in fact virtually all countries in the European Union, have been doing for many years. But the recommendation in the report is for us to move to level of ambition two, which is what I itemised a few minutes ago. So let's not get into conspiracy theories about so-called right-wing media commentators I am not quite sure who you are talking about when you start using that kind of ideological language. Ireland is rightly having a discussion right now, both publicly and within government, around how we respond to changing security circumstances across the continent of Europe, given the brutality and aggression that we are seeing coming from Russia at the moment. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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