The government\u2019s new maritime security plan, which will be announced this week, must not erode Ireland\u2019s commitment to neutrality, according to Social Democrats defence spokesperson Sin\u00e9ad Gibney.<\/p>\n
Deputy Gibney said:<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder successive Fine Gael and Fianna F\u00e1il governments, investment in our defence forces was allowed to decline to dangerous levels \u2013 resulting in a recruitment and retention crisis and a lack of strategic defences when it comes to things like cybersecurity and anti-drone technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI await the publication of the government\u2019s new maritime security plan with interest, but it should be noted that just four of the country\u2019s eight naval vessels are currently capable of being used to patrol our seas.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny maritime security strategy must deal with the elephant in the room \u2013 this government\u2019s failure to adequately invest in our defence forces, particularly our personnel and their essential equipment, over many years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs regards co-operation with other countries, it makes sense for Ireland to co-operate with our nearest neighbours, France and the UK. However, any co-operation with a military alliance like NATO, would have to be defined in scope and subject to appropriate oversight to safeguard our military neutrality and guard against mission creep.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need assurances that any maritime security cooperation does not slowly evolve into a de-facto NATO mission without any UN mandate or appropriate scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
February 23rd, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government\u2019s new maritime security plan, which will be announced this week, must not erode Ireland\u2019s commitment to neutrality, according to Social Democrats defence spokesperson Sin\u00e9ad Gibney. Deputy Gibney said: \u201cUnder successive Fine Gael and Fianna F\u00e1il governments, investment in our defence forces was allowed to decline to dangerous levels \u2013 resulting in a recruitment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[407,7,497],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-forces","category-press-release","category-sinead-gibney"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n