Europe’s security landscape is shifting, and Ireland’s role as a digital infrastructure and data processing hub is now closely observed internationally.
While neutrality remains part of national identity, resilience, not isolation, is now an appropriate narrative. In a digital economy, safeguarding infrastructure and economic interests demands innovation, cooperation, and proactive engagement.
Ireland’s neutrality has long been a cornerstone of national identity. Yet Ireland’s position on Europe’s western edge, and its role as a global technology hub, make it central to European resilience.
The collective view of industry and policy makers is that Ireland is seen as a key node in international technology, communications and security.
Ireland’s approach must not ignore our broader all-island context and the partnerships that shape it. The island contains different security traditions, but with common goals. What matters for Ireland is practical cooperation that supports our neighbours and protects shared strategic infrastructure, including subsea cables, energy connectors, and ports.
As Ireland’s infrastructure is increasingly viewed as strategic, our choices should bolster collective resilience across the island and with UK and EU partners, while maintaining Ireland’s values and legal commitments.
This all‑island context also includes significant defence‑related industrial capacity in Northern Ireland, including advanced manufacturing activity that supplies systems currently used in European security operations. This demonstrates how the island’s wider industrial ecosystem plays a strategic role in European security. Recognising this interconnected landscape is essential when considering Ireland’s contribution to collective resilience.
EU initiatives, from the Critical Entities Resilience Directive to Military Mobility, expect each Member State to contribute to collective security. For Ireland, this is not about militarisation. It is about safeguarding the common good by strengthening resilience, protecting essential services, and ensuring continuity in crisis.
Ireland’s recent agreement with France to support the procurement and deployment of new radar and drone systems demonstrates that the State is willing to collaborate with European partners when it strengthens national and collective resilience.
Ireland’s 2026 EU Presidency heightens this urgency. Europe needs every node in its network to be resilient, and Ireland can lead by example through civilian-first innovation and practical cooperation.
In December 2025, the Government announced a landmark €1.7 billion defence investment plan – a 55% increase – covering new radar, counter‑drone systems, aircraft, sonar and naval upgrades. This represents the most significant shift in Ireland’s security posture in decades and signals a clear commitment to strengthening national and European resilience.
Ireland does not host large traditional defence manufacturers, but it does host world‑class civilian technology companies with dual-use potential. Many are already deployed globally in both civilian and military contexts. The priority is responsible use of technologies, deploying the appropriate guardrails within policy, ensuring innovation serves the common good and does not enable misuse.
Irish innovators are already delivering capabilities aligned with EU resilience priorities:
These capabilities scale across Ireland’s industrial base and talent pipeline, strengthening resilience while supporting jobs.
Ireland’s prosperity and strategic infrastructure amplify expectations and, in a contested environment, make us a tempting target for bad actors. Hosting critical data flows, cloud capacity, and energy interconnectors means disruption here can cascade across Europe.
If neutrality once aligned with limited means and our infrastructure being of limited strategic threat to global economies, today’s fiscal strength and strategic assets change the equation. The question is not how to match EU averages, but how to protect assets that bad actors may choose to undermine, demonstrating shared responsibility for resilience.
These charts illustrate a central challenge: Ireland sits at the high end of European income but the low end of defence and resilience spending. This imbalance creates both reputational risk and practical exposure. Closing this resilience investment gap is essential to protect people, infrastructure, and Ireland’s role in Europe.
Ireland’s defence investment has now been increased to €1.7 billion under the new 2026–2030 Defence Sectoral National Development Plan, a 55% uplift that exceeds previous "Level of Ambition 2" projections and significantly expands roles across defence, technology and infrastructure.
Level of Ambition 2 refers to the Defence Forces development plan agreed by Government in 2022, setting out the minimum staffing, equipment and capability improvements needed to meet Ireland’s core security requirements.
The wider impact is larger when defence and resilience are viewed together and connected to existing strengths:
Aligning these sectors with resilience priorities transforms national innovation into industrial strengths, attracting high-quality investment, and reinforces Ireland’s reputation for responsible, future-facing leadership.
Ireland’s infrastructure and data flows make it a critical node in Europe’s security architecture. Government and industry have already begun to implement capabilities that reinforce Europe-wide resilience:
Dual‑use technologies have legitimate civilian applications but can also serve security or defence purposes, and therefore operate under EU export‑control rules.
Resilience is Ireland’s strategic imperative in a digital age. The question is no longer whether Ireland should act, but how.
Ireland has a once in a lifetime opportunity to safeguard European sovereignty, create high-value jobs, and develop strategic technologies that keep Ireland at the forefront of global technologies. Making this happen will require significant public and private investment.
If you would like to explore how resilience, defence investment or dual‑use innovation could impact your organisation or sector, please contact our team below.
