Letters to the Editor, June 17th: On EU and defence, the UN and cadaver dogs

Irish Times

4 hours ago

Sir, – Your contributor Patrick Smyth in an opinion piece ('
Ireland will have to commit substantial funds to arms procurement whether it approves or not,
' June 14th) makes some thought-provoking observations about EU defence preparedness.
Smyth's article is based in part on his attendance at a fascinating debate on EU defence hosted by the Irish Institute of European Affairs (IIEA) last week. I also had the privilege of attending the event and a private lunch that preceded the public debate. At the lunch I participated in what was a very insightful off-the-record exchange of views with some of Ireland's leading defence and security experts.
Unlike Smyth, however, I do not share some of the a priori assumptions contained within his opinion piece. He reiterates a number of received views about the status of Russia's military threat to the EU and 'former Soviet states' – many of whom are members of Nato.
Smyth writes: 'Russia . . . has been massively expanding its military-industrial production capacity with an estimated spending in 2024 of 40 per cent of the federal budget and up to 9 per cent of its GDP'.
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It is worth bearing in mind that Russia has a GDP of approximately $2.4 trillion – roughly that of Spain, give or take a few hundred billion. The combined GDP of the EU is over 10 times that of Russia.
The EU White Paper on Defence Preparedness 2025 sets out the manner in which the EU must harness some of this GDP to address capability gaps in our collective defence and security. Specifically, it sets a spending target of ¤800 billion on weapon systems in support of the EU's 'Re-arm Europe' plan.
Frankly speaking, the EU and its Nato members dwarf Russia's economic and military capabilities. Vladimir Putin has failed – spectacularly – to achieve his military goals in Ukraine thanks to the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people.
If Russia fully mobilises its armed forces and places its economy on a full war-footing, it will fail and will ultimately collapse – as its Soviet predecessor did in the 1980s.
Putin's criminal regime is undoubtedly at war with the EU and all of its member states, including Ireland. It is engaged in full spectrum combat operations in its invasion of Ukraine and in asymmetrical 'grey zone' operations throughout the EU.
Despite this existential threat, I do not see any evidence to suggest that Russia has the military capability to carry out a successful ground invasion of a Nato state by 2029 as was asserted at the IIEA debate.
In my professional and intellectual formation as a professional soldier, academic and security analyst for over 35 years, I am inclined to look for evidence-based data to inform my views – subjective as they are.
Smyth is right to welcome the current debate on defence and security and the requirement for it to 'expand beyond Dáil Éireann's narrow confines'. However, I believe very strongly that we should avoid a generalised 'moral panic' and 'group-think' about the full spectrum of security threats that confront us.
These include, but are not confined to, Putin's criminal aggression, along with global geopolitical and climate crisis.
Europe armed itself twice in the 20th century with catastrophic results. While I accept that we need to invest in deterrence, I am fearful of a growing clamour for an offensive posture within Europe – from a collective of voices who for the most part have zero experience of armed conflict themselves.
In the context of the current debate on our triple lock mechanism and its intimate linkage to our militarily non-aligned neutral status, I believe Ireland has a solemn duty to speak truth to power within the EU on the many unquestioned assumptions and myths about the real threats that confront us as a political, economic and social union.
As was the case during the so-called Celtic Tiger years and the catastrophic clamour for austerity measures that followed it, we need to be very careful not to collaborate with and extend authoritarian and paternalistic narratives that have led Europe to calamitous outcomes in the past. – Yours, etc,
Dr TOM CLONAN, Captain (Retired)
Independent Senator,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – Patrick Smyth says, 'as Europe rearms at speed, Ireland cannot stand on the sidelines'.
Surely, we all have to, as the alternative is an insane leap-frogging build-up of mutually destructive armaments.
The article itself speaks of a '. . . real fear that the EU itself is existentially threatened'.
This is the language of the cold war, a raising of tensions that will make EU citizens believe that there is no alternative but to heavily re-militarise. Thankfully, there is an alternative to the military solution, and Ireland is very well placed to advance it.
The United States, which US professor and intellectual Noam Chomsky describes as a rogue state, and autocratic Russia, which is, arguably, another rogue state, are between them responsible for two of the most violent and destructive conflicts ravishing the world at present, one as combatant, the other as supplier of armaments.
Those two states (in common with the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) hold vetoes that make them virtually unaccountable to anyone or anything, except their own self interests.
Ireland needs to, with the support of other like-minded nations, withdraw the security council vetoes held by those countries.
There are those who will claim that the big powers will never give up those vetoes.
However, they are not substantive.
Paradoxically, this might be a highly propitious time to proceed with this, as there is a glimmer of evidence of war-weariness in both of those countries, a growing awareness that there might be a better means to achieve objectives than the military one (In war, the only winners are the arms dealers).
If they fail to see that conflicts can be better resolved by peaceful negotiation, if they attempt to continue in their rogue roles, let the rest of the world proceed without them. The UN is not working, because it is not allowed to.
Chomsky's word 'rogue' is designedly politic. 'Cowboy' might be another. They are members of the UN but resolutely refuse to be held accountable to the international body of nations.
Ireland and the many other peace-loving countries can bring moral pressure on them to fully commit to the UN. Beyond that there is the growing realisation that general prosperity comes from peace, not war. If we need evidence of that, we need only to look at the bloody history of Europe and the great benefits flowing from the creation of the EU.
The alternatives are a ruinously expensive stockpiling of arms, which, at best, will rot away in bunkers and, at worst, result in mutual annihilation.
Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump has demanded that Europe sort out its own defence issues.
Not that Europe should need permission from the US. Let the EU do that.
Let it follow the advice given by Prof Jeffrey Sachs to the EU parliamentthat the EU negotiate directly with Russia – one European superpower with another – to find conditions for an immediate ceasefire and an enduring solution to the Russian Ukrainian war.
The EU was able to create peace between age old adversaries, let it now forge the conditions for enduring peace with Russia. – Yours, etc,
JOHN O'RIORDAN,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Ireland, the UN and the triple lock
Sir, – Taoiseach Micheál Martin is absolutely correct when he states that the role and international standing of the United Nations is being 'eroded'. In fact, the institutions of the UN are currently under grave threat on many fronts.
Mr Martin goes on to assure us that 'this is a matter of deep concern' for his Government ('
Taoiseach says UN being eroded, calls for world powers to de-escalate Iran-Israel conflict
,' June 14th).
His point is well made, but why then choose this juncture to remove the UN element of the triple-lock mechanism for deploying Irish troops abroad? This means a distancing of Ireland from the peacekeeping structures of the UN and is hardly a vote of confidence in that body.
On the contrary, this move arguably undermines the reputation of the UN as an international peacekeeper.
The UN Security Council is undoubtedly a flawed institution – particularly because of its permanent members – but the Government here should surely be arguing for deep reform within the UN and a greater role for the general assembly.
Instead, this fiddling with the triple lock appears to be about decoupling Irish Army deployment abroad from the UN and moving towards a closer relationship with emerging EU military structures.
It is difficult to square this with the Taoiseach's commendable remarks on the need for us to support the key role of the UN as a multilateral institution. – Yours, etc,
FINTAN LANE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Trump's birthday parade
Sir, – Did the US army deliberately snub Trump by their out of sync marching on the big celebration? It looked more like soldiers our for a dander than a military march.
It reminded me of the tale of the proud mother watching a parade of soldiers passing who declared 'there they go, and they're all out of step except my Johnny'. – Yours, etc ,
EOGHAN Mac CORMAIC,
Cill Chríost,
Gaillimh.
Sir, – Did more people march in President Trump's birthday parade than watch it live? – Yours, etc,
DENNIS FITZGERALD,
Melbourne,
Australia.
Sir, – It is perhaps appropriate that the protest campaign against the presidential rule of Donald Trump is organised by a 'No King' coalition.
The last king of the American colonies was King George III, who once said: 'A traitor is everyone who does not agree with me'. – Yours, etc,
DERMOT O'ROURKE,
Lucan,
Dublin.
Government and housing
Sir, – It may be a harsh judgment but there is no doubt that the blame for the dysfunctional rental market in Ireland can be laid squarely on the shoulders of past and present governments and not on the private landlords. Their failure for many years to get the local authorities to build social houses in any great numbers has resulted in the State being now the biggest player, indirectly through the housing assistance payment (Hap), and, directly, in the private rental market.
Using a sporting analogy for an extremely serious and sad situation, we now have a scenario where the State, as both player and referee, has decided that the only solution is to issue yellow and red cards to landlords in the form of rent controls.
The disappearance of the private landlords off the pitch will undoubtedly make matters much worse and may well prove, courtesy of a biased referee, to be a major own-goal by the State. – Yours, etc ,
CHARLES SMYTH,
Kells,
Co Meath.
Recruiting cadaver dogs
Sir, – I see a cadaver dog is required again by gardaí to assist in the search for the remains of Annie McCarrick. That's twice now in a matter of months a cadaver dog was required.
The training of these dogs is not arduous and it is relatively inexpensive. A few thousand euro at the outset and after that the normal cost of dog food and veterinary bills.
It is outrageous that funding cannot be found to train even one dog given the difference it might make to one grieving family.
I cannot accept the State funding of the greyhound industry to the tune of ¤20 million a year, an industry where thousands of dogs are culled annually because they can not run fast enough.
Yet a dog needed to assist families who have lost a loved one through tragic circumstances is considered 'unnecessary'.
It is time to get our priorities right. – Yours, etc,
JOAN BURGESS,
Cork.
Sir, – If An Garda Síochána acquires a cadaver dog, will it be the Office of Public Works's responsibility to provide its kennel? – Yours, etc,
DERMOT MADDEN,
Meelick,
Co Clare.
Getting to grips with Ulysses
Sir, – In reply to the letters regarding the difficulty of reading/finishing Ulysses, I found a marvellous book in Ballsbridge library, Dublin: Ulysses Annotated by Don Gifford.
It has excellent explanatory notes at the bottom of each page, making the book much more accessible for everybody. Worked for me! – Yours, etc,
GENA LYNAM,
Sandymount,
Dublin.
Sir, – Tackling James Joyce's Ulysses proved a worthwhile exercise when I came across my great-grandfather Michael 'Micky' Hanlon of whom Mr Joyce was clearly no fan ('ignorant as a kish of brogues').
As I have little account of the true character of this Moore Street fishmonger, I wonder if any of your readers would be able to add some meat to these discarded fish bones? – Yours, etc,
HUGH McDONNELL,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 9.
Residential options for all
Sir – The call for better residential options for younger people with disability by Parkinson's Disease Ireland (Letters, June 14th) should prompt consideration of better joint working and advocacy across all ages.
Otherwise, a key risk is promoting a tolerance for lesser conditions for certain groups, such as older people.
This was a notable failure of the Ombudsman's report on younger people in nursing homes, Wasted Lives, which completely ignored the fact that the loss of choice and independence noted extended also to the more than 20,000 older residents of nursing homes.
Advancing new thinking on nursing home care, such as the household (Teaghlach) model of small domestically configured units, configured in moderate sized collections, located near the communities where residents formerly lived, needs forceful and unified advocacy.
Policymakers tend to avoid action where they detect divisions between related but differing advocacy groups.
It would therefore be preferable that organisations such as Parkinson's Disease Ireland would join with other advocacy groups, such as Care Champions, Age Action, ALONE and the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, to promote a joint position on nursing home care design, policy and service provision which delivers dignified care while promoting independence, choice and flourishing. – Yours, etc,
Prof DESMOND O'NEILL,
Consultant physician in geriatric medicine,
Tallaght University Hospital,
Dublin.