An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir April 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 20 | I reland's inaugural National Security Summit took place over the 25th and 26th of February with a significant and widely praised contribution from the Defence Forces. While suc- cess is sometimes difficult to measure the numbers speak for themselves in this instance. We were delighted to welcome over a 1000 attendees to the Helix with speakers and delegates from approximately 50 organisations, 20 countries, 10 universities and representatives from all of the uniformed services on the island. The delegate count alone demonstrated quite clearly that there is a huge appetite for a serious debate on Ireland's future security needs. The summit was opened by Minister of State Paul Kehoe and our first session was a high level policy discussion on the secu- rity implications of climate change with contributions from the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organisation, rep- resentatives from the UN, senior analysts from The Hague based Clingendael Institute and the Chief of Staff. At the same time that morning a parallel session examined the future of air power globally and what that means for small states. The future of the Air Corps and the investment, skills and equipment required to return a fighter intercept capability to Ireland were discussed at length with input from serving and retired officers, industry experts and national politicians. With the Covid-19 crisis pending the emergency preparedness, response and resilience conference was packed to capacity all day on the 25th. The lessons learned from the Salisbury nerve agent attack were presented by senior members of all three UK emergency services early in the day and later sessions saw contributions from Irish public health officials and retired HSE emergency planners. The afternoon saw an in depth discussion of Ireland's emergency management framework and debated the adequacy and preparedness of all uniformed services to meet potential threats and the current crisis was never far from delegates thoughts. The midday sessions on day one saw a key note address from the Director of the US National Counter Terror Centre on main- taining focus on terrorism in a world of changing priorities, a discussion on the links between security and our economy and a presentation on the clinical management of CBRN casualties. The jam packed programme continued into the afternoon with presentations on intelligence oversight, space and security and the FBI approach to Weapons of Mass Destruction. The afternoon also saw a thought provoking presentation from the Dean of the NATO Defence College on why countries adopt national security strategies and this was followed by a highly engaging debate on what a future strategy for Ireland might entail. Our first day fin- ished with a discussion on the security implications of Brexit and throughout the day the realities of a number of serious threats facing Ireland were firmly driven home to all attendees. Day two brought a number of different themes including presentations and debates on growing the small Irish security and defence industry and how the Defence organisation may play a part in this. We also looked at the connections between cyber security and national security with insightful contributions from the new Director of the Irish National Security Analysis Centre and the UK's former Deputy National Security Advisor. The implications of EU Maritime Security Strategy for Ireland was examined and potential roles for the Naval Service beyond Irish waters were discussed. The additional capabilities that the new multi role vessel can bring to the Irish State were also examined with input from industry and local government representatives. A much anticipated discussion on the future of the Irish Army BY DR. GERRY WALDRON PHOTO'S BY A/M SAM GIBNEY

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