Confidential reports warn lack of security strategy leaves defence incoherent
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Ireland faces a high risk of a disorganized defence in the event of an attack because it lacks a formal security strategy, according to leaked assessments. The warning arrives as the defence minister seeks a role for the Navy in a European mission to intercept Russia’s shadow fleet. Diplomats are already looking toward Washington, where the government fears a second Trump administration could ramp up foreign policy aggression.
The Department of Justice has issued a €14m tender for deportation charter flights, a sum nearly triple the previous contract. Domestic infrastructure is also under scrutiny: the transport authority warned that fare hikes will lose passengers despite government growth forecasts, while environmental reports found eleven towns still discharging raw sewage into the environment every day.
Falling priest numbers have prompted a plan to merge the dioceses of Cork and Ross with Cloyne to create a single body of 375,000 Catholics. Elsewhere, the health service is reportedly failing to collect millions of euros in rebates owed by pharmaceutical companies.