Ireland is not yet joining the loan part of the mechanism 鈥 with a total fund of up to 鈧150bn available 鈥 but the Government is expected to consider this in the coming weeks, with Mr Harris believed to be keen to explore the prospect.
Figures provided to the Irish Examiner by the Department of Defence show defence expenditure was 0.2% of GDP in 2024. It has remained at that rate since 2021, and is slightly lower than 2020 (0.3%).
Gross National Income (GNI) is considered a more accurate estimate of national wealth than GDP in Ireland, as it excludes global profits of international companies sent to Ireland for tax purposes.
The department figures show Ireland鈥檚 defence spend is 0.4% of GNI (twice as much as GDP), with the latest figure for 2023. It is the same rate as 2022, and slightly lower than previous years (0.5%).
The estimates are despite increased defence budgets since the report of the Commission on Defence Forces in February 2022.
This followed the Government’s adoption of the commission鈥檚 鈥楲evel of Ambition 2鈥 (LOA2) investment. This involves increasing the budget from 鈧1.1bn in 2022 to 鈧1.5bn, in 2022 prices, by 2028.
The Irish Examiner reported last February that Ireland had the lowest defence spend of 38 European countries in 2024 鈥 by far the lowest based on GDP, and joint lowest with fellow neutral Malta based on GNI. Our GNI-based spend was more than half that of another EU neutral state, Austria.
The Department of Defence said the international comparison of military expenditure was 鈥渕ade difficult鈥 by the lack of publicly available data and the differences between nations’ defence policies. As such, it said international perspective is 鈥渂est used for context rather than comparison鈥 between militaries.
Responding to the department figures, the association representing officers in the Defence Forces said the department “continually refers to the 鈥榬ecord allocation鈥 in the defence budget鈥.
Lieutenant Colonel Conor King, general secretary of Raco, said: 鈥淲ith Ireland still far below the levels of investment of comparator EU countries, despite the increasingly unstable global security environment, and with the personnel levels so low, how can we be satisfied that this level of spend remotely addresses Ireland鈥檚 needs to defend our citizens? If we鈥檙e honest, we can鈥檛.鈥
He added: 鈥淟ook at the Nato commitment to 5% ([3.5% on national defence and 1.5% on critical national infrastructure and resilience]. Now look at us at 0.2% of GDP or 0.4% of GNI. We are so far away from reality it鈥檚 like a bad joke. And many of those countries are our EU partners so it鈥檚 not just a 鈥楴ato thing鈥.鈥
The Raco general secretary said the capabilities of the Defence Forces was in a very poor state: 鈥淲ith our naval service unable to put to sea, our air corps grounded after dark, and huge difficulties in staffing overseas, not to mention our technician strengths below 50% in most areas, which capabilities are we delivering on fully? And at what cost?鈥
The T谩naiste is expected on Friday to sign up to the EU Security Action for Europe (SAFE) in a bid to speed up, possibly by two years, the acquisition of key defence capabilities, such as: ammunition; artillery systems; critical infrastructure protection; air defence systems and maritime capabilities.
Mr Harris is focusing of using SAFE to address gaps in specific equipment, particularly through joint acquisitions with other member states.