THE JUNIOR DEFENCE minister has said that a trip to the east European border with Russia has confirmed for her that there needs to be a major increase in funding on the Reserve Defence Forces to combat hybrid threats.
Minister for State for Defence and European Affairs Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has returned after visits to Finland, Estonia and Lithuania where she visited border guard teams and received briefings regarding hybrid threats and cyber security.
In recent months, since she took up the post, Carroll MacNeill has become a vocal advocate for increased spending on defence. She has said that the budget should be increased to €3 billion “so we can defend ourselves”.
She has also called for increased funding and planning for the Reserve Defence Forces.
MacNeill explained that on her trip to Finland and Estonia she saw how both those countries have a massively developed system of ordinary citizens carrying out reserve military functions. She also said that the Lithuanian model of a whole of society approach to defence is focused on resilience.
“They are really thinking this through, they look at Reserve Defense Forces, how that is organised within society, who’s involved, what the mechanisms for it are, what the supports are.
“I think that’s something that that’s very important for the Department of Defence in Ireland.
“It’s something that I think we’re going to need to think about in a broader societal way – we’re really going to have to invest and thoughts into this also to develop a whole of society resilience,” she said.
In her trip to Finland she spoke to Finnish border guard chiefs and had discussions with Joakim Strand, the Minister for European Affairs, as well as a briefing on cyber security and hybrid threats along with discussions on critical undersea infrastructure and disinformation.
In Lithuania she met government leaders and visited the Lithuanian-Belarussian border where she spoke to border guards.
There were discussions on the country’s resilience building efforts and defence preparedness around air raid shelter development, electricity protection, hybrid and cyber threats.
In Estonia she met with Jonatan Vseviov, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as received a briefing from Irish Defence Forces cyber security expert Commandant Frank Hickey.
Hickey is based at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence – he led the Defence Forces response to the HSE Hack.
There was also a visit to the Estonian/Russian border where she spoke and heard about ongoing operations.
The Minister said that in her briefings she was shown footage of Russian agents bussing migrants to the border and while cutting wiring sent migrants through the fencing.
She claimed that there is also evidence of Russian guards further assisting migrants to cross through the border by providing them with bicycles.
“The reason that I went was to show solidarity to our European friends and to see more directly for myself and understand what they are feeling, what they’re experiencing.
“Particularly to speak to the hybrid threat centre in Helsinki in Finland also to understand what their analysis of a whole range of different things is and how it can be dealt with,” she added.
MacNeill said that the visit also confirmed for her the view that there needs to be a major increase in Defence spending.
She said she has seen compelling evidence of Russian hybrid operation across Europe and that Ireland is not immune from these activities. Hybrid warfare covers a multitude of activities from espionage to cyber and disinformation attacks.
“I remember being challenged on the radio that we should take this amount of money and hire 1200 extra nurses, and we do that anyway. In Ireland, we have doubled the health budget over the last 10 years.
“My worry is: what happens if there is a hybrid attack on the Irish hospitals, on Irish energy, on any of these [critical infrastructure] structures.
“What I’m saying is building up our defence capacity, our resilience capacity is existentially necessary, it is critical infrastructure. I can’t state it more directly,” she said.
MacNeill and her Fine Gael colleagues are preparing a manifesto for the upcoming General election. She would not be drawn about if there is likely to be a dedicated defence ministership in that saying that would be “a decision above my pay grade”.
There has been some criticism by Cathal Berry TD and other Defence sector experts that MacNeill has not been delegated powers by Minister for Defence Tánaiste Micheál Martin.
She rubbished suggestions that this was an issue and said that it has not stopped her engaging and advocating for a greater debate and support for defence.
The Minister said that her priorities in taking office was to raise the awareness of women’s issues in the Defence sector, to work on the establishment of a satellite naval base on the East Coast and to finally advocate for defence.
“[What] I really wanted to do was really amplify the discussion about the resilience of the Irish State, preparedness of the Irish State for the next European mandate as European affairs Minister as well, and amplify that security conversation in an Irish context. I don’t need any delegated powers to do any of those things,” she added.
The Journal has previously reported that there is consideration being given to base a naval vessel at a purpose built facility in the Minister’s constituency in Dun Laoghaire.
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