The Irish Government is putting the security of the state at risk by moving at a "snail's pace" to upgrade our national defence, it has been claimed.
Former Army Ranger and Independent TD Cathal Berry said every other neighbouring country had upped their game since the war in Ukraine while we were still moving far too slow especially when it comes to acquiring primary radar to protect our skies.
The Cabinet has allocated between €200m to €300m euro to buy it but officials are still looking at different systems as they go through a procurement process.
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He fumed; "The concerns I have are about the pace of change and the pace has been quite slow particularly when we look at what is happening throughout Europe.
"Everyone else seemed to scale up their defence capability within weeks of the invasion of Ukraine. We are still very slow and moving at the pace of a snail..
"The concerns I have from a capability point of view are primarily with regard to radar. We were told there would be primary radar coverage soon over Ireland. We are the only EU country without it.
"There is no legal impediment to it. There is cross party support for it. There was great razzmatazz and it was announced with great fanfare but it seems to have disappeared off the radar if you pardon the pun.
"The key question I have is when will Ireland have primary radar coverage of our airspace like every other EU country. It is a reasonable request.
"We can get tied up in processes or we can focus on the product. There should be an end date or at least a tentative timetable as to when we are getting our radar."
He also demanded that Ireland follow the lead of every other country across the globe and have defence attaches in our embassies especially in major international cities.
Deputy Berry said; "To be frank Ireland was very poorly prepared for the Ukrainian conflict breaking out. We look at how the influx of refugees and displaced people has not been managed as optimally as it should have been and the cost of energy and business supports.
"If we had defence attaches plugged into London, Washington and France, our level of preparedness would have been better.
"Every country in the EU bar Ireland deploys defence attaches abroad. We receive international defence attaches to Ireland but we have never deployed one.
"I do not know where the blockage is. Culturally official Ireland is apparently against appointing defence attaches. For me, this is important because they are plugged into the intelligence ecosystem. They scan the horizon and provide early warning."
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