Umstrittene Schweizer Sicherheitspolitik ... - ETH Zürich

Rory Montgomery, Political Director,
Foreign Ministry of Ireland
Transkription der Stellungnahme vom 27. März 2009
Montgomery Rory: It is always a pleasure for me to come to Switzerland.
Today, I will say something about the nature of the Irish Defence Forces,
about their functions and about the constitutional and legal framework
within which they operate. I will describe the background and the political
context of our policy of neutrality, and I will also say something about
the operations in which our Defence Forces have taken part or are taking
part. I shall also say something about the developments in the European
Union in the given context. In all this I expect you to see parallels between
Switzerland and Ireland as well as differences between the respective situations
the two countries are in.
The Irish Defence Forces consist of a Permanent Defence Force and
a Reserve Defence Force. These are largely separate and distinct. The
Permanent Defence Force consists of approximately 10,500 personnel,
8,500 in the Army, which is structured into three infantry brigades. It
is conceived as a light infantry-based force with an appropriate level of
all-arms capability. Our Air Corps has 850 members; the Naval Service
has a maximum authorised strength of 1150.
The Reserve Defence Force, all of whose members are volunteers,
provides an amount of back-up capacity. It consists of 12,000 members
and has been restructured and upskilled in recent years.
In Ireland, there has never been conscription. This is probably for
historical reasons, because one of the factors which added to the pressure
for independence from Britain in the early years of the 20th century was
the introduction of conscription in Britain during World War I. It was
proposed that it be extended to Ireland. This was one of the factors which
fuelled the campaign for independence.
Total annual expenditure on defence is approximately € 900 million,
a little over 0.5 % of gross domestic product, thus being the lowest
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