Who can provide me with info on the military forces of the Republic of Ireland?
Air, sea & land.
Links helpful, albeit not essential.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ei.html#Military
You, uh, got a big weekend planned? :dubious:
They’re like most European countries. They spend 0.9% of their budget on defense. Us yanks spend 3.7% of our GDP on defense.
Dunno if you can take 'em, Bosda, but I’m sure an adequately motivated college football team could…
Oh we’re worst than most European countries. We totally rely on the calm of our part of the world protecting us. That and the UK sometimes. After 9/11 the RAF flew missions protecting our borders for a while coz we didn’t have the means to do it ourselves.
We do supply troops for some UN and some Euro missions in Africa, ME and Asia.
You might also check the following website for the insignia of rank (both current and past) of the Irish armed forces (Army, Navy & Air Force).
The website is called Uniform Insignia and you can find them at:
Don’t talk to me about the Irish Defence Forces! Possibly amusing family anecdote follows:
My late father enlisted in the Army of the Irish Free State (as it was then) as a 20 year-old on 27th March 1936 at Athlone Barracks and reached the rank of Temporary Sergeant on 21st November 1941 and Temporary Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 1st July 1943. He served mainly in administrative units in Western Command, based in Athlone.
Unfortunately, at about the same time as becoming Company Quartermaster Sergeant he was also appointed District Administrative Officer of the Local Defence Force - the reserve army, strengthened during what was known as “the Emergency” in the neutral Free State but as “World War 2” everywhere else - for Longford District, a post which included supervision of the LDF funds: paying out mileage and other allowances to LDF members, paying for halls hired for drilling etc.
I say unfortunately because he fell into temptation, and drink, forged LDF cheques to the value of £185-5-10 in order to buy more drink and, on being discovered during a surprise inspection by the Captain on 15th November 1944, did a bunk across the sea and joined the British Army in Prestatyn. Just into the new year of 1945, a Garda sergeant went across and lifted him back to Longford. He was reduced to Private in order to be court-martialled on 29th January 1945 for “Deserting the Forces” and sentenced to 120 days’ military detention at The Curragh. Following that, he was tried at Longford District Court (as a civilian) on 27 charges of forgery of cheques with intent to defraud and 27 related charges of uttering forged documents. Pleading guilty, he was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, which he probably served in Mountjoy.
He was formally discharged from the Army on 4th August 1945.
Yes, I noticed. Most of the Irish “Air Force” consists of utterly unarmed aircraft.
And no jet combat aircraft even exist in the order of battle.
No missle equipped ships in the Navy.
My Cadre of Cranky Cub Scouts & I shall soon RULE!!
BWA-HA-HA-HA-HAaaaa!
Wouldn’t the reduced to Private be part of the sentence and not a preliminary?
Your posting is kind of a sinchronicity. Just yesterday, I was wondering how courts-martial and non-judicial punishments were handled in the Soviet military.
The Navy’s basic purpose is to police shipping lanes. There’s not enough to that properly either.
I pretty grand with all this BTW. The expenditure is just not necessary. Because of our geographical position we’re not really at risk. Our protection comes from our international relations.
Even if we had a few planes with guns what good would they be? Apart from Bosda and the scouts we’d have our ass kicked one way or the other.
I would hope if that ever happened there’d be a quick reaction from UN/US to come to our protection. We have a bit of gas off the west coast if that helps 
My brother-in-law is in the army. The Irish army’s real expertise is in the area of guerilla warfare. In the event of invasion, the Irish army’s response would be to run for the hills and turn Dublin into Fallujah. Given our history, it’s a very solid tactic.
The Irish Rangers have a particularly impressive pedigree as well.
IMHO, not every country in the world needs armed forces. Ireland’s economy is doing well now, but hasn’t been that way always. Relatively light spending on the military certainly helps. Seems to me that the UK is close enough and has the capacity to provide whatever protection Ireland needs. Also seems to me that plenty of Irishmen have fought for the UK through the years.
I have mixed feelings that Ireland didn’t join the Allies in WW II.
Seems to me, though, that if any country was stupid enough to provoke Ireland into a fight, they’d have a lot to deal with. The Irish have been showing their courage and independence for a long time.
And as an American, I’m thankful that Irish men and women came here. This country would be a much poorer place without them.
Nothing to add except tha
except that everytime I use Firefox I end up posting like that !
If the Irish are active anywhere it’s with the blueshirts, on peacekeeping lissions in Bosnia, Liberia, East Timor and Lebanon.
Bluehats
The blueshirts where Eoin O’Duffy’s pathetic bunch of Nazi wannabees.
Sorry - you’re right: the reduction in rank came about “as a result of conviction by a Limited Court Martial and award of Detention”, it says here in the extract from his records.
Indeed, a country’s military is constrained by (a) what it [can/is willing to] pay and (b) what it can realistically count on having to put up a succesful fight against.
Thus, if Ireland has no tactical Air Force, a Navy that’s basically a coast guard, and an Army that’s good for COIN type operations, it’s because Defence concluded it’s what they really could use, seeing how the few entities that could realistically project power to invade Ireland in force (NATO; or the US, UK and maybe France by themselves; forget Russia, they can’t even project slides these days) have such numbers and firepower that the expenditure to even pretend to be able to face an all-out attack in a set-piece frontal battle would be ludicrous in face of the absurd likelihood.
You’d need a reason to invade too, their neighbours the UK have no reason to roll across the border, the Republic has helped fight terrorism (to varying degrees IIRC) over the years.
The only Irish military operations I hear about (from here in my listening post, about a kilometre over the border from the army barracks in Lifford) are fisheries protection, UN duties and protecting money deliveries to banks with the police.
Never mind budgetary constraints, why would the Republic want to do more than this?
Only the military (the US military included)! Why, oh why, do they call a punishment an award?
Another anecdote. I have a friend who was in the Irish Navy for five years. During this time he went on a boat precisely twice: once on a small outboard to get to an island in the middle of a lake where they were training, and once to get back. He can’t swim, either.
Exactly. People need to remember that the population of the Rep. of Ireland is ~4 million. Even if we had twice the per capita expenditure than the US it would still be a force that would crumble almost instantly against any possible threat. Threats that just don’t exist in the real world due to our international political position.