Irish Army - benefits to Irish public

N

NBermo

Guest
Just wondering does anyone know exactly how the Irish army help out the Irish public?.

According to the military.ie web site, there are 8,500 personnel serving in the army (only one part of the defense forces) but I am very unaware what they actually do day to day.

Other than:
* 'to defend the State against armed aggression' - how often does this happen?

* 'to aid the civil power ' (the Gardai) - a couple of foreign diplomatic escorts here are there and escorting the Securicor vans. Hardly utilises 8,500 peronnel

* 'to participate in multinational peace support' - fair enough, they do plenty of that and do it well.

* 'to provide a fishery protection service' - Navy does this

* 'to carry out such other duties as may be assigned to them from time to time, e.g. search and rescue, air ambulance service' etc. - seems to me this is mostly done by volunteers and private groups

I would genuinely like to know what exactly they do so if anyone has any information on it, pass it on. I have some ideas as to where they could help out as it seems they are not overworked as it stands now.......
 
Yes Yes Yes for the EBS

They're doing a fine job giving some free advertising for the
 
Ivan

We don't need an army.

As it stands, if another country wants to invade us (such as America, for example), we haven't a hope. The only chance we would have is with guerilla warfare, or some other country's army intervening.

We should should get rid of this burden.
 
Ivan

I don't see any mention of transport strike breaking in that list. God be with the days, eh... ;)
 
transport strike

Simple. Get rid of the unions while we're at it.
 
Re: Army

Why would anyone want to invade us?? P.S. We have the masters of guerilla warfare on this island so we should be ok if anyone does!!
 
Re: Ivan

As it stands, if another country wants to invade us (such as America, for example), we haven't a hope

Can anyone name one other country of our size that has an army that could defend an attack from a large nation?
 
Re: Army

> Simple. Get rid of the unions while we're at it.

Actually, you might need the army after all if you plan to abrogate the constitutional right to free association! :)
 
Re: Army

In relation to the invading part I heard this as a description for another small country's army, equally as useful as our own

"It is like a security guard, you do not expect them to be able to do anything, if invaded, but you feel oblidged to have one to keep a look out"

Stu
 
PwC report

Didn’t PwC do a report a number of years ago that said that the Irish Defence force should be greatly scaled down, and particularly that we should cut down the number of barracks within the country which is really a hangover from the days of the Empire. Predictably, the public servant unions rose up against the temerity of these lads suggesting that we weren’t getting value for our taxes on this, and the idea of a restructure quietly died a death.


Why, oh why, in this country must we bow and scrape before the public sector unions?
 
PwC report

> and the idea of a restructure quietly died a death.

I don't know about that but I do know that several barracks, including one next door to me, have been closed in recent years and some of them and other DoD land sold off for development and other uses.

> Why, oh why, in this country must we bow and scrape before the public sector unions?

Just a tad hyperbolic there perhaps? :\
 
Re: Ivan

Can anyone name one other country of our size that has an army that could defend an attack from a large nation?
Click to expand...

In most cases I agree with you.

Switzerland is less than twice our population and could give any of its neighbors a severe bloody nose.
 
ah come on now lads

Didn't they do sterling work during the poison-letter-crisis? The bomb disposal people were in and out of Cathal Brugha Barracks like fiddler's elbows, responding to all the calls of "there's some white powder in me letter, cousin Betty in the the States is trying to anthrax me". :)
 
DOD

There was a friend of mine working in the Dept of Defence years ago. Every Tuesday afternoon, they used to play Roll Ha'penny in the office for a couple of hours just to do something.

If ever there was a Govt Department that needs cutting: this is one !!!

Perhaps we should move this to the Budget 2005 forum
 
army

We need the army to defend us from the IRA and INLA and such groups, who are armed and have killed and robbed.
 
Re: army

We need an armed disciplined force to defend the state against internal and external aggression. This can consist of anything from armed drug-dealing gangs (who can muster a surprising amount of firepower) right through to our home grown paramilitaries to highjacked aircraft landing on our territory to al-queda type elements using this country as a soft launching pad for attacks on US/UK targets. Mostly, the army is never called upon to actually tackle these targets but the ABILITY to do so is vital.

Secondly, the existence of an independent, professional, politically neutral army is one of the factors that underpins any democracy. The elected government of the day MUST be able to project its legitimate authority throughout the state. Again, it's the ability to do so rather than the actual doing that matters.




as for John's claim that
There was a friend of mine working in the Dept of Defence years ago. Every Tuesday afternoon, they used to play Roll Ha'penny in the office for a couple of hours just to do something.
Click to expand...
this is just a variation of the usual vague, unsubstantiated, anonymous anecdote trotted out by the anti-public service brigade. Along with the civil servants who are ALWAYS coming in late, going home early, absent on sick leave, maternity leave etc. YAWN!!! If you genuinely have such a poor opinion of the public service, do try to come up with some better arguments than that. Otherwise spare us the hackneyed old cliches.
 
john

Where would wam (I mean john) be without his hackneyed old cliches?
 
What does the Irish Army Do?

Are there not thousands of Irish troops based in hot-spots as part of UN peace-keeping forces.......the Balkan states, Africa etc?
 
Re: What does the Irish Army Do?

As of June 30 (latest figure available on Army.ie website) there are [broken link removed] on peacekeeping missions.

Considering the pittance they're paid we get great value out of them. Their most important role is at home protecting us from the IRA.
 
Pittance

"the pittance they're paid "

Is this true ?? I thought they were VERY well paid
 
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