Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The only way to measure military capability is by knowing what is being asked of the military. If we decide to maintain a presence in the Mediterranean for a while, there is a capability requirement to do so. Our Air Corps does not have significant defence capacity, but it is not in our mission statement to have it. Other countries will measure it very differently. The vast majority of people in our Permanent Defence Force are in the Army, and the focus is very much on overseas missions and assisting other arms of the State in the roles they have here. Capability is very much designed around UNIFIL, UNDOF and training missions in Mali. Capabilities must be framed in the context of the risk assessment and the response to it. If we decided not to have any more overseas missions, our capability measurements would be totally different. We would not need Mowags and the type of armour we use would be different. That is what we mean when we say there is no set metric for capabilities, because every country has a different focus for defence. Ireland is very different from our closest neighbour and from other countries. Ireland is a country that is similar in size to New Zealand and Israel, but the capabilities in terms of measurement are obviously entirely different, depending on the challenges faced.