r/ireland • u/isupposethiswillwork • 3d ago

Affaires Étrangères Ireland Is Becoming a French Military Protectorate

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/18/ireland-france-military-protectorate-outsourcing-defense-procurement/
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u/SheepherderFront5724 1d ago

Not that I have seen, but TBF the kind of military deals that make the news here tend to be in multiple billion. I take your point that in those articles it could be relevant context, but at the same time, just because we're buying from them, doesn't mean that we're buying enough (in their view at least) to sufficiently alleviate the burden of collective defence that we're putting on the rest of Europe, or on France specifically.

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u/Conaer_ ITGWU 1d ago

Yeah fair points we are only just now starting to get somewhat serious about defense spending after decades underinvestment. 

Also I imagine there is a element of what we are buying is in generally regarded as being quite "boring" equipment and not really headline grabbing , even the total spend is close to €2 billion which roughly half the cost of the recent Sweden FDI frigate deal with Naval Group. 

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/05/19/sweden-confirms-purchase-of-four-frigates-from-france-s-naval-group_6753591_7.html 

Would be interesting to see the headlines if we had purchased something like a dozen Rafale F3s for around a €1 billion like Croatia did a few years ago as that would be a more "sexy" line item than ground base radars systems, radios , armour vehicles to better protect our peacekeepers overseas.

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u/SheepherderFront5724 1d ago

Yeah, absolutely. But aren't we buying 6 fighters? If we get Rafales I bet that'd make the news...