YOU'LL probably have noticed that the South of Ireland is busy pouring money into defence. That’s because journalists like Stephen Collins have posed the question ‘Would Ireland be able to defend Shannon if the Russians decided to invade?’ Stephen answers this question with a resounding 'No!'
Next year, the Irish government is allocating a record €1.49 billion to defence. That’s an 11% jump on last year’s defence spending. Between 2026 and 2030, the South plans to spend €1.7billion on defence – that’ll be a 55% increase.
If questioned on this kind of expenditure, the South would no doubt point to the UK, which spent over €60 billion on defence this year, and plans to make that €62 billion next year. The EU, which spent €343 billion on defence last year, plans to spend €381 billion next year.
So everybody’s doing it, doing it, as the song says. However, the fact that the UK or the EU are doing something doesn’t give it moral or political justification.
Let’s jump sideways and look at a different but linked matter.
In 2025, some 16,000 people in the Dublin area were recorded as homeless. This included 5,200 children. Over 120 people are sleeping rough – sleeping on the street, in other words.
In Belfast, some 50 people were sleeping rough in 2023. Today, the figure is very likely higher. Across the North, around 55,000 people are homeless, with 4,500 of these children.
Have you ever ‘slept rough’? I haven’t. But I was at a Christmas concert recently. It was held in a church, and while the music was splendid, by the end of the three hours my bum on the wooden pew had gone numb. How much worse it must be to spend night after night sleeping on a pavement or in a shop doorway? Not to mention the cold and the possibility that some birdbrain with an Irish tricolour or a union flag in his hand will attack you.
If we judge a society by how well it provides for the weakest sector in that society, then the south of Ireland, the UK and the EU fail miserably. Their mouth says one thing – 'We’ll attend to the welfare of all those we govern' – and their actions say something very different.
There are voices that amplify and magnify the threat of Russia. 'Putin is a madman, and he’ll not stop with Ukraine!'
These voices see Putin as a Hitler figure, out to occupy all the countries in Europe. Why? Because that’s what happened last time, in World War Two, with Hitler. Unfortunately, defence modelled on the last World War is like using a penny farthing to cycle to the office.
No-one has ever conducted a detailed interview with Putin. Why has he attacked Ukraine? Does he see himself dominating Europe? Why does he want Ukraine not to join NATO? Or the EU? It’s possible if he was interviewed that Putin would tell a pack of lies. On the other hand, he might speak the truth, or some of the truth, and provide the rest of us with a better understanding of what’s going on. I mean, if you wanted a character reference for someone, would you go to the sworn enemy of that person?
War fever is sweeping Europe now, and the military-industrial complex is rubbing its hands in glee.
If the South were to divert defence spending for even a single year, it would almost certainly resolve the problem of rough sleepers and maybe the homeless in general. But such a thought produces only a condescending smile.
Imagine, you’re asking us to stop preparations for killing people and instead to help people on the margins of society live a decent life? You must be mad!
