Ireland to set up network of defence attaches in overseas embassies

Defence officials are working on establishing a network of military representatives who will be assigned to Irish embassies around the world.

Military or defence attaches perform a number of roles in their host countries, including acting as liaison between countries on military matters, reporting back information to their home government and promoting their country’s defence industry abroad.

They are typically senior ranking military officers who temporarily take up a role as a diplomat.

Unusually among western nations, Ireland does not station defence attaches in any of its embassies. However, Defence Forces General Gerard Buckley is based in Brussels and acts as the country’s military liaison with the EU and Nato. Garda members are also assigned to several embassies to liaise on policing issues.

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About 20 countries have defence attaches accredited to Ireland. Most are based in London, but the US and UK operate full-time defence attaches in the State. British Army Col Sean Grant represents the UK armed forces while US Air Force Lieut Col Tom Nolta represents the US.

There have long been calls for Ireland to establish a network of defence attaches in its overseas embassies. As far back as 1963, Ireland’s ambassador to the US Thomas Kiernan wrote to Dublin asking it to consider sending a military attache.

In 2015 the White Paper on Defence outlined plans for an exploration of the appointment of attaches to key EU member states and other countries.

The 2022 report from the Commission on the Defence Forces said international liaison and co‐operation between Ireland’s military and other armed forces “should be enhanced and strengthened with the immediate creation of a defence attache network”.

“This cohort of personnel, based in locations of strategic importance to Ireland, can provide vital and timely feedback on defence and security matters through both official and personal interactions, and should provide a valuable addition to a number of our diplomatic missions abroad,” it said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Defence said a joint civilian-military team had laid out a project report “which makes a number of recommendations in this regard”. She said the report was being examined “for review and agreement”.

A senior diplomatic source said this year would be an ideal time to send an attache to Washington as it marks the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ireland and the US.

“Ireland has a network of agricultural, food, climate, energy, legal, justice, Garda, maritime, cultural, industrial and enterprise attaches across our embassies worldwide. We’re long overdue military attaches in a number of strategic locations such as Washington, London and Paris.”

They pointed to the impact of the Garda liaison officer network, which has gardaí posted in embassies worldwide to aid co-operation on transnational crime. “It’s time to increase our co-operation and information exchange in terms of defence issues.”

Lieut Col Nolka, the US defence attache in Ireland, recently told Signal, the magazine of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (Raco), that an Irish military representative in Washington would “further raise the profile of Irish security and defence issues for the US government”.

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