Leo: We can handle security of our seas

Taoiseach insists UK is not needed

THE Taoiseach has taken issue with an assertion Ireland is reliant on the UK’S armed forces for protection.

Leo Varadkar was speaking at the Munich Security Council 2024 during a side panel event on neutrality.

Mr Varadkar was challenged that Ireland relied on the UK’S armed forces in the protection of the seas and of undersea cables.

He responded: “In relation to protecting our seas, we have our own navy.

“It’s not as strong as it needs to be, and we’ve entered into agreements with Pesco and Nato’s Partnership for Peace which particularly relate to

Leo Varadkar the cables that are around the island which are important to us, and also important to our neighbours.

“I’m not aware of any particular UK intervention that’s helped us in that regard.”

Mr Varadkar was further challenged that it “falls to the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy in practice”. The Taoiseach responded: “When has that actually occurred? “When has there been

an action or operation by the air force or the navy that has helped us?” It was put to him that “everyone knows that in the case of a threat to those installations, that [Britain] is the source of security which would be reverted to”.

It was also suggested on Saturday that the UK would likely intervene if there was a Russian incursion which also threatened their security.

Mrvaradkar said: “That’s exactly the point, they would be doing it to protect themselves, not us.”

The Taoiseach also queried an assertion around the size of the Russian embassy in Dublin.

Mr Varadkar said there are 15 diplomats and 15 other staff, which he said is “big for a small country like Ireland but far from huge”.

SAFETY