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

It is hard to give a "Yes" or "No" answer to that question until the response to the security threat assessment has been finalised and fully costed. However, I envisage that yes, defence spending in Ireland over the next ten years will need to increase. New challenges must be faced, Ireland has a huge marine resource that must be protected, airspace that must be managed and it has natural resources that must also be part of that security threat assessment. Moreover, Members have already discussed cybersecurity and so on. In addition, Ireland has an increasing responsibility abroad in terms of peacekeeping, conflict management, post-conflict stabilisation and so on. I would like to see an increasing budget for defence to be able to do all those things. However, that must be negotiated and will not happen in a single year. My view on the White Paper is that over the next decade, the State will work towards putting in place a modern, well-resourced defence infrastructure which I believe will require increases in budget over time.

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