Getting Real? Irish National Security and Intelligence Commitments in the Programme for Government

Azure Forum Strategic Insight 001/2025

By Edward Burke, Assistant Professor in the History of War since 1945, UCD & Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Azure Forum

The Programme for Government (PfG) promises the greatest transformation of Irish security architecture and capabilities since the early 1970s. That is to be welcomed. Security issues that are in the national interest may not be the first questions politicians get when canvassing. But if growing threats such as industrial espionage are not addressed, they will self-evidently harm Ireland’s standing in the EU and relations with the United States. In turn this can harm future levels of foreign direct investment that are critical to Ireland’s economic model and government finances. At the outset of 2025, the political case for a major investment in national security is clear.