Increased security precautions had been taken by the Defence Forces to deal with a possible terrorist attack, the Chief of Staff, Lieut Gen Colm Mangan has said.
There had been a "new focus" since the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon , he told a news conference yesterday.
"We reinforced our Ranger unit particularly. Then we purchased new Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare equipment. We provided extra training within those areas for our personnel.
"We bought additional explosives ordnance disposal equipment [i.e., for bomb disposal teams] that will be able to deal with a number of threats that will arise within that particular area. And intelligence-gathering and co-operation has been improved within all areas," he said.
He added that, while "nobody can ever rule anything out" the level of threat to Ireland was not as high as for those countries which were "in the mainstream of the terrorist threat profile".
Nevertheless within all EU countries there had to be co-operation.
"All of those things are in place and the level and nature of it are being monitored on an ongoing basis and I might acknowledge also the very close co-operation that we have with the Garda Síochána whose prime duty is the internal security of this State."
Launching the Defence Forces Annual Report for 2002 at McKee Barracks yesterday, Lieut Gen Mangan expressed confidence that the deadline for readiness to participate in the European Rapid Reaction Force would be met.
Asked how the "triple-lock", especially the necessity for a UN mandate, affected planning for overseas missions, he said he was confident that, if the Government wanted the Defence Forces to get involved in a particular overseas operation, it would ensure that the "mechanisms by which we could be involved" would be in place.
Commenting on reports that the Minister for Defence had been asked to consider further possible cutbacks in Defence Forces personnel as well as the number of barracks, Lieut Gen Mangan said: "Throughout the public service since 1997 there has been a 19 per cent increase in personnel.
"The Defence Forces have decreased since then, we have gone down 8 per cent within that particular period.
"The Minister is on record, and it is in the White Paper, as saying that continuous recruiting is essential for the lifeblood of this organisation and he has reiterated that on a number of occasions.
"So I am confident that we will continue to recruit to fill the vacancies within the organisation."
Asked about allegations that Irish UN troops were involved in hiring prostitutes in Eritrea, among them girls as young as 15, he said: "It is being investigated by our military police."
He added: "We are actively pursuing this matter and I can assure you, should there be evidence of wrongdoing emerging from it, then we will proceed against it in a very, very forceful manner."