Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The White Paper on Defence published in 2015 set out the Government intention to put in place a new fixed cycle of defence reviews. Such reviews are common practice internationally and give reassurance that policy remains up to date and relevant to changing future circumstances.

The White Paper set out that every three years there will be a White Paper update that would consider progress made up to that time and consider any revisions required with each alternative three-year review in the cycle being more comprehensive in nature and to be styled a Strategic Defence Review. This new review process also informs strategy statement preparation.

The first of these reviews, the White Paper Update was published in 2019. The second of these reviews, the Strategic Defence Review stage, was due to commence in 2021. With the establishment of the independent Commission on the Defence Forces by Government in December 2020, a decision was taken to pause commencing the Strategic Defence Review until the Commission on the Defence Forces had completed their report and Government had been given time to consider the report.

Following detailed consideration of the Commission Report the Minister for Defence brought to Government a High Level Action Plan and a Memo for Government which were approved on July 12th last year. Part of the High Level Action Plan was the progression of a number of early actions one of these being the commencement of the Strategic Defence Review.

The first stage of this review has commenced with the preparation of a revised security environment assessment (SEA) which is currently being conducted by an interdepartmental working group and will address the significant security environment changes since the invasion of Ukraine. A fresh consideration of the implications of this assessment for overall policy requirements, associated tasks, capability development and resourcing will then be completed. The security environment assessment should be completed in the near future and will inform the Strategic Defence Review

The Department of Defence, together with the Department of Foreign Affairs, co-hosted a Consultative Forum on International Security in June 2023. The Forum built a deeper understanding of the threats faced by the State, and the links to, and between, our foreign, security and defence policy. It also provided an opportunity to examine the experiences and policy choices of other countries in responding to the new security environment in Europe.

As well as encompassing the Governments agreed recommendations from the Commission on the Defence Forces, the Strategic Defence Review will consider the reflections of the Consultative Forum on International Security and the future role of the Defence Forces both nationally and internationally.

In September 2023, I welcomed the publication of the Strategic Framework - Transformation of the Defence Forces. This Strategic Framework clearly sets out the vital work that is underway relating to the transformation of the Defence Forces and outlines the necessary actions to be delivered by the end of 2024. It covers the recommendations made in the Independent Review Group and the Commission on the Defence Force reports, together with measures to address recruitment and retention challenges, and the legislative changes needed to modernise our Defence Forces.

Development work in the area of defence policy and operations will also happen in parallel with the transformation of the Defence Forces and will set the context for the future.

It is expected that the Strategic Defence Review will be completed by the end of Q1 2024.