What Kind of Military Should Ireland Have?

Comments · 1.5K

• MI

  @michaelshurkin613 · 1 year ago · pinned

  If you like this video, please consider making a donation using the &quot;thanks&quot; button or buying me some coffee, so to speak, here: <a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/shurkin">https://buymeacoffee.com/shurkin</a>.

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• CT

  @ctid107 · 1 year ago

  Denmark and the Republic of Ireland have roughly the same population. The difference between their defence capabilities is enormous.

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• KA

  @karl_thwub · 1 year ago

  I&apos;m a bit slow here but at what point did it become aceptable to accuse people of anti-Semitism because they disagree with the policies of the State of Israel?

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• TO

  @tonydivito3489 · 1 year ago

  I encountered Irish soldiers on the border between Israel and Lebanon in 1983. At the time, Israel was occupying southern Lebanon, and the Irish troops were serving with UNIFIL. I was traveling with a South American priest, accompanying a Lebanese Christian Brother who had been teaching in Jerusalem. The Irish and Ghanaian soldiers approached us, asking the priest for a blessing before crossing into Lebanon. He quoted Matthew 5:9: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God,’ offering them comfort before they entered the conflict zone.

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• HA

  @harshbutfair8993 · 1 year ago

  I was watching the first 6 minutes of this video and finding it interesting, but then went to the comments section and saw your replies to people saying categorically that Ireland was anti Semitic. As an Irishman I&apos;ve never once heard a fellow Irish man or woman saying I hate Jews or that they dislike Jews in any shape or form, we just don&apos;t come across that many to be frank. I did have a colleague over ,2 decades ago who was Israeli, we got on great and he was involved in the local soccer team, he had zero issues afaik.<br><br>I have however heard anti Semitic stuff on a few other occasions from other white Europeans, I won&apos;t name the countries as don&apos;t want to be flinging mud.<br><br>Criticism of what the right wing Israeli government are doing, whether that criticism is justified or not, I think personally yes it is, is not the same as anti semitism, but that is the Netanyahu playbook, right!?

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• JO

  @jorenvanderark3567 · 1 year ago

  Honestly, the video itself was solid, aside that weird detour about Ireland’s supposed “antisemitism.” I’ve been to Ireland myself (as a Sephardic Jew, no less) and felt safer there than in plenty of other places I’ve visited.<br><br>Ireland’s government has a long history of anti-imperialist solidarity, including support for Palestinian rights. People conflate that with antisemitism far too easily, often deliberately.

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• CA

  @cathalmurphy4584 · 1 year ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0steFQluW4&amp;t=270">4:30</a> The difference between the L118 and L119 is that one has a longer barrel and the other has a shorter one. The ammo for the short one is cheaper so is preferred for training.

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• ME

  @Merohill · 1 year ago

  A few points<br>1. One of the key aspects hindering the Irish military is that it was designed specifically to be weak as when the government was formed there was a civil war which afterwards the military was specifically made to be weak and decentralized to prevent them from rising up in another civil war.<br>2. Most people view Irish neutrality as an extremely beneficial thing with no downsides as it worked out very well for them in the second world war and because of this view there to be little to no political will to change away from neutrality.<br>3. The Irish stance on Israel is mirrored in their stances on South Africa and Rhodesia during apartheid. As they took much the same stance on these as they generally view all three as imperial apartheid states. This is generally how it is viewed.<br>For anyone wishing to learn more about the Irish military and why it is the way it is the book &quot;Defending Ireland The Irish State and its enemies since 1922&quot; by Eunan O&apos;Halpin is very comprehensive.

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• TH

  @TheChieftainsHatch · 1 year ago

  I think you ran this video just a touch early (And it&apos;s why I&apos;ve not yet attacked the subject). There is currently a high-level review going on which is supposed to come out with the answer to the question of &quot;Just what is it we need the Defence Forces to do, and how should we configure it to do it?&quot; A lot of the answers of configuration and equipment are going to come from that. A piece you did not touch upon is the reconfiguring (It&apos;s in so terrible a shape that they are effectively starting from scratch) of the reserve forces, which may (or may not) be a significant component of this, especially if the Powers-that-are decide they want to focus on things like cyber-defense capabilities. I would recommend also that anyone interested in the matter of Irish defence read the Commission on the Defence Forces report which came out in 2022, it (and the three LoAs within it) are the foundation of the discussion today.<br><br>The idea of buying Iranian to please people (And I don&apos;t think Iran is as popular as you apparently imagine) is daft. I&apos;ll give some credit to the DF, they may not buy often or set adventurous requirements for their equipment, but when they do buy, they tend to buy the best out there which fits the requirements which had been set out (Possible exception of the AW.139 fleet, but that&apos;s another story). There&apos;s a reason why Ireland was the first foreign purchaser of the Javelin ATGM or the SINCGARS radio, for example. More important is interoperability. Ireland rarely goes anywhere, be it at sea or on land, alone and not in conjunction with partner forces and generally speaking, they tend to be NATO or NATO-compatible nations (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Canada, that sort of thing).<br><br>The idea of neutrality itself is almost a sacred cow. The idea is that since Ireland cannot (and likely does not wish to) keep itself as a major player on the world stage due to its might, it instead maintains relevance due to neutrality. By being unaligned, it becomes a trusted intermediary which can then make advances towards global peace. Being in NATO doesn&apos;t seem to have hurt Norway&apos;s achievements in this regard, but it&apos;s the theory. Similarly, the theory is that everyone will love the neutral Irish and that will keep its troops safe and welcome, though to the Africans or wherever, it&apos;s just a bunch more white folks with guns. One can spend many hours watching the Public Consultative Forum on the Dept of Foreign Affairs youtube channel, and you&apos;ll get a good view of the sources of opinions.<br><br>Whether or not Ireland should spend money to defend neutrality is another issue entirely. There is a large school of thought that things like Ireland&apos;s territory and airspace, or the massive infrastructure like undersea cables, will be secured by other nations purely out of their own self interest, regardless of if Ireland does so or not. And if so, then why bother spending the money? Put it to the health service or some such, as if another half-billion will suddenly make it more efficient. Until or unless concrete ramifications come from not being able to properly self-police sovereignty such as trade penalties or whatever (possibly easier from outside the EU than within), or no longer allowing Irish folks to hitch lifts on evacuation aircraft, there is going to be no particular impetus to stop letting the good times roll and leaving the capability gaps unfilled.

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• RI

  @rikulappi9664 · 1 year ago (edited)

  2-3 billion annually would buy the air and naval capabilities you mentioned. Finland uses about 6 billion/year for defence.

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• EY

  @EyeInTheSkypaulmcmenamin · 1 year ago

  Some of these steps you mentioned are already underway, for example there is talk of the P60 class of ships being overhauled and fitted with sonar and improved air search radar. There is no talk of weapons, but the sensors are a good start at the least. Ireland is also an observer of the European Patrol Corvette (EPC) program, which is perhaps a signal of intent for replacing our 6 larger patrol ships when the time comes. The Corvette is to be 3000 tonnes in displacement, armed with 57mm deck gun, vls with most likely Mica/aster 15 anti aircraft missile, exocet anti ship missiles, lightweight torpedoes and a number of &nbsp;.50 cal and 20mm manned guns. This would be a dream for Ireland and really want we need if we are to be serious about our defence.

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• DA

  @damianlynch5977 · 1 year ago

  I think you got most of Irelands defence needs correct, a modern MLRS system for the army &amp; a fleet of 6 to 8 high speed corvette size vessels for the navy would be the way to go.

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