CHRISTOPHER
Sir, - Kevin Myers's hard-hitting piece (Irishman's Diary, December 18th) on Irish Defence Forces equipment makes again the point made by many of your correspondents in recent times, including me. Even after 40 years of garnering the accolades of UN peacekeeping, successive Irish governments have kept their forces in a state of equipment penury.
Though Kevin Myers may be wrong in fact about armoured personnel carriers - 40 new Mowag Piranha are currently being delivered - he is right about the generality of Irish Army equipment. There are not enough modern field artillery pieces to equip the three regiments in the regular army, the Cavalry Corps armour is now aged and desperately needs replacing and the anti-aircraft regiment is under-equipped. As for the Aer Corps (why not Air Force? It has its own command structure and uniform), most of the aircraft are nearly 30 years old. There are now no jet fighter aircraft, no troop transport aircraft and the troop-carrying helicopters, about which there has been much talk, were supposed to have been ordered last April.
Many people would like to know the reason for the delay in this programme. The much vaunted and paraded proposed expenditure of £250 million raised from the sale of redundant defence properties represents a spend of only £6.25 million for each of the 40 years since the battle of the Tunnel back in 1961. If the Irish Government seriously wishes to be in a position to put an Irish battalion group of up to 1,000 men at the disposal of the new European Rapid Reaction Force it needs to have at its disposal a good deal more than 40 new APCs, as well as the supporting arms and services to go with it, all in a high state of equipment and training.
Dr Tom Clonan's suggestion (Opinion, December 27th) of a national forum for discussion regarding Ireland's future military role is a good one and should not be limited to those solely with military experience in the Irish armed forces. Maybe The Irish Times could provide a lead in this? Yours, etc. -
CHRISTOPHER DORMAN-O'GOWAN,
Quayside,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
England.