The government has confirmed it is in discussions with Ireland about shared security threats to undersea cables and critical maritime infrastructure, following concerns raised in the House of Lords about vulnerabilities in the North Atlantic and around Northern Ireland.
During the 27 October session, Lord Stirrup, a crossbench peer and former Chief of the Defence Staff, warned that “Ireland is a crucial hub for undersea infrastructure crossing the Atlantic, but it lacks the capabilities to defend against and be resilient to the destruction of that infrastructure.”
He also noted that Ireland’s cooperation with NATO “is coming increasingly under threat with recent political shifts in Irish leadership.”
Responding, Defence Minister Lord Coaker said the UK is aware of these risks and is actively coordinating with Dublin. “We talk with our Irish colleagues about some of these threats,” he said.
“Wherever a threat may come from, we take measures to defend our homeland from it. That includes surveillance aircraft, developing underwater technology and working with private industry to see what we can do.” He added that “we are taking a range of measures” and that the government “takes all threats seriously, wherever they come from.”
Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee followed up by asking whether Northern Ireland’s strategic role, particularly around the Port of Londonderry, was being factored into the UK’s response. Coaker replied that the Ministry of Defence, rather than himself personally, has been in contact with the Irish Government, and confirmed that “Northern Ireland is an integral part of the UK while the people of Northern Ireland want that.”
He added that the “importance of protecting that, and the important part that it plays for the whole UK, is really important, and we will certainly take that on board and keep it on board.”
To guard that lot of spaghetti will require lots of monitoring and lots of monitors!
What “recent political shifts in Irish leadership” is that Lord whaffling about? Has there been a General Election that everyone missed?
Well they’ve just elected a new president. I’ve no idea what her views are on defence, maintaining neutrality etc.
Oh she’s a Tankie no question, the issue you and the Lord seem to be unaware of is that the Presidency is cerimonial, she does set government policy, and can’t stop it either. Hence my question on whether we had a GE that everyone missed, as the Government is where any of that is decided.
Well the free loaders will expect “owt fer nowt” as usual, and get it. Their new ultra left president will insist on no money being spent by the Republic as she would rather spend it on illegals. So read “no change”.
So like the Lord you don’t understand what “ceremonial” means?