Sir, – It is no surprise UK politicians have a jaundiced view of Irish defence and security capacity (“‘A bunch of freeloaders’: Increasing UK pressure on Ireland to invest in defence”, February 16th). Our performance in this field of policy has, since independence, been abysmal. Needless to say the plans were never resourced and we drifted into the “Emergency” utterly unprepared. The UK and our EU partners rightly expect us to take the security of these islands and Europe seriously. The Atlantic alliance is no longer fully underpinned by the US, and our neighbours and trading partners are increasingly worried that Ireland’s lack of capacity, particularly in naval and air capabilities, constitutes an enormous weakness in European security.

Source: The Irish Times February 18, 2026 18:02 UTC