Alarm bells ring over resilience

Ireland’s six-month hosting of the presidency of the Council of the European Union starting this July provides a focal point for many of the concerns. The unsettling experience of Denmark, which saw airports closed by unidentified drones when it was host in 2025, alongside the appearance of drones in no-fly zones as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky visited Ireland last year, sent sharp messages of intent from hostile actors.

The Deloitte/IIEA report warns the EU presidency period will provide a clear ‘opportunity for disruption and to cause harm’ and that ‘Ireland’s defence deficits are increasingly being noted internationally’ (see ‘Ireland’s vulnerabilities’ box). The Financial Times recently admonished the country for being ‘the weak link in Europe’s defence’, highlighting its inability to police its vast maritime territory and protect the communications infrastructure within it, despite ‘having become wealthy as a hub for global technology and trade’.

Low spend, high risk

Military neutrality is a cornerstone of Irish identity. While the government has shown unwavering support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion, President Catherine Connelly’s criticism of increased defence spending across Europe arguably intensified her landslide election win last October.

Even allowing for neutrality, Ireland’s security spend is low. One study, The Military Balance 2025, found the country’s 2024 defence budget, at €1.29bn, equated to just 0.24% of GDP, by far the lowest in Europe. Landlocked Switzerland, in contrast, spent €6.86bn on defence in the same year.

The outbreak of war in the Middle East only compounds concerns around vulnerabilities. Drawing from conversations with senior figures in the financial and tech sectors, thinktanks and government, the Deloitte/IIEA paper finds a shared view that heightening risks in a volatile world remain largely unappreciated by the public. ‘I fear these issues will not be crystallised until we see a crisis – and by then it will be too late,’ one roundtable participant said.

Dublin Port is cited as an illustration of current weaknesses. The report warns that ‘food would start to disappear from shop shelves within three days if there was a material adverse event there’.

A separate report in March 2026 by Gas Networks Ireland strikes a similar note. It warns of Ireland’s ‘critical undersea and maritime infrastructure being seen as potential targets for sabotage’ and says any damage done to the gas pipelines running between the UK and Ireland would take at least six months to repair and cost the economy €4.6bn per month.

Business representative group Ibec has also chimed in, arguing the country’s competitiveness cannot be separated from its security. Ibec chief executive Danny McCoy recently said: ‘Defence is not just about militarisation. However, we cannot simply avoid militarisation when the rest of our European Union colleagues are increasing their capabilities.’

Holistic approach

The question of how Ireland moves forward has financial and resource implications, but it is fundamentally a political one. Deloitte points out the concern of leaders interviewed for its paper that ‘public debates on defence and security in Ireland often collapse into neutrality versus Nato arguments’. And while the criticism that Ireland is riding on the security coattails of others flies internationally, it is far less resonant with voters at home.

There are signs of a change in thinking, nevertheless. In December, the government unveiled what it called a ‘record €1.7bn Defence National Development Plan’, promising major capability upgrades across land, air, maritime and cyber domains. It includes a €19m investment in counter-drone technology to be in place for its EU presidency.

In March, Simon Harris, the tánaiste and minister for finance, told a French audience he was ‘open to spending more on defence’ and suggested Ireland could soon begin accessing EU loans to fund defence improvements.

‘In a time of national emergency, a highly joined-up approach between government and the private sector is essential,’ Deloitte partner Shane Mohan says. The Deloitte/IIEA paper makes a strong push for what it calls a ‘whole of government/whole of society’ approach’ (see ‘Stronger security’ box), a call that appears to have the ear of government.

The Business Post reported in December that the Department of Justice is in the process of establishing a National Security Agency, while the minister for enterprise is examining moves to allow Enterprise Ireland to engage with the country’s ‘dual-use sector’ (businesses whose products have both military and civilian uses). A security clearance process that allows Irish SMEs to access the €8bn European Defence Fund also appears to be progressing.

While momentum around spend is accelerating, the question of building public awareness of the threats that Ireland faces remains very much open. The clock is ticking down to Ireland’s EU presidency, and the public will soon have to decide for itself if the country is facing real heat from hostile actors or whether that threat is so much hot air.