Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 March 2024
22. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he has undertaken an assessment of Ireland's defence vulnerabilities in light of the deteriorating defence situation in Europe. [13260/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe White Paper on Defence published in 2015 set out the Government intention to put in place a new fixed cycle of defence reviews. Such reviews are common practice internationally and give reassurance that policy remains up to date and relevant to changing future circumstances.
The White Paper set out that every three years there will be a White Paper update that would consider progress made up to that time and consider any revisions required with each alternative three-year review in the cycle being more comprehensive in nature and to be styled a Strategic Defence Review. This new review process also informs strategy statement preparation.
The first of these reviews, the White Paper Update was published in 2019. The second of these reviews, the Strategic Defence Review stage, was due to commence in 2021. With the establishment of the independent Commission on the Defence Forces by Government in December 2020, a decision was taken to pause commencing the Strategic Defence Review until the Commission on the Defence Forces had completed their report and Government had been given time to consider the report.
The Detailed Implementation Plan for the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces published in November 2023 is a further important step on this journey and builds on the publication of the Commission Report itself in February 2022, the High Level Action Plan in July 2022 and the Early Actions Update published in March 2023. This plan sets out an ambitious programme of work to move to ‘Level of Ambition 2’ (LOA 2) by 2028 and the significant and fundamental change for the Defence Forces that will be delivered across the Commission’s recommendations
One of the Early Actions identified in the High-Level Action Plan was the commencement of a Strategic Defence Review as part of the regular defence review process set out in the White Paper.
The first stage of this review has been the preparation of a revised security environment assessment (SEA) conducted by an interdepartmental working group and addresses the significant security environment changes since the invasion of Ukraine. This assessment has informed the overall policy requirements, associated tasks, capability development and resourcing as part of the Strategic Defence Review.
The Department of Defence, together with the Department of Foreign Affairs, co-hosted a Consultative Forum on International Security in June 2023. The Forum built a deeper understanding of the threats faced by the State, and the links to, and between, our foreign, security and defence policy. It also provided an opportunity to examine the experiences and policy choices of other partners in responding to the new security environment in Europe.
As well as encompassing the Governments agreed recommendations from the Commission on the Defence Forces and the Independent Review Group, the Strategic Defence Review will consider the reflections of the Consultative Forum on International Security and the future role of the Defence Forces both nationally and internationally.
A draft of the Strategic Defence review will be submitted to me in the coming weeks for my consideration and following this a final version will be brought to Cabinet.
