Sir, – Further to “Naval Service left with two ships to patrol Irish waters due to manpower crisis” (News, August 23rd), we are incapable of even managing our military neutrality properly.
It’s time to face the truth and admit that we are hiding behind the skirt tails of the UK and Nato. Either we continue in this vein or realise that effective neutrality requires, at a minimum, decent wages and conditions for all defence staff. Neutrality is not an excuse to avoid the costs of a minimum defence strategy on both land and sea. Whether in or out of Nato, we are not respecting our own defence responsibilities. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN WALSH,
Dublin 4.
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Sir, – Do you remember when we had that great TV show featuring “The Minister for Foggy Weather”?
It’s great to see that we have, in real terms, a “Minister for Lack of Defence”. – Yours, etc,
JOHN NOLAN,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Defence concerns have only grown with the announcement that two more Irish naval vessels are being withdrawn from active service.
In recent years, Russia has attacked Chechnya, Georgia, and Moldova, in addition to Ukraine. All of these victims of Putin’s aggression are neutral countries. Neutrality is an ideal for an ideal world. The present reality is not an ideal world. Ukraine has shown that there is no neutral position between defending freedom and surrendering to foreign occupation. – Yours, etc,
DAN DONOVAN,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.