| Defence Forces | |
|---|---|
| Fórsaí Cosanta Óglaigh na hÉireann | |
 | |
| Founded | 1 October 1924 (1924-10-01) |
| Service branches | |
| Headquarters | DFHQ McKee Barracks, Dublin |
| Website | Official website |
| Leadership | |
| Supreme Commander | Michael D. Higgins |
| Minister for Defence | Simon Harris |
| Chief of Staff | Lieutenant GeneralRossa Mulcahy[1] |
| Personnel | |
| Military age | 18–39 (as of 2025)[2] |
| Conscription | No |
| Active personnel | 7,557(Establishment: 9,739; December 2024)[3] |
| Reserve personnel | 1,720(Establishment: 4,069; Aug 2024)[4] |
| Deployed personnel | 428 troops, 17 missions (as of March 2025)[5] |
| Expenditure | |
| Budget | €1.5bn (2024)[6] |
| Percent of GDP | 0.23% (2022)[7] |
| Related articles | |
| Ranks | Military ranks of Ireland |
TheDefence Forces (Irish:Fórsaí Cosanta,[8] officially styledÓglaigh na hÉireann)[9][10][Note 1] are thearmed forces ofIreland. They encompass theArmy,Air Corps,Naval Service, andReserve Defence Forces.
The Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces is thePresident of Ireland.[11] All Defence Forces officers hold theircommission from the President, but in practice, theMinister for Defence acts on the President's behalf and reports to theGovernment of Ireland. The Minister for Defence is advised by the Council of Defence on the business of theDepartment of Defence.[12]
As of December 2023, there were 7,550 permanent personnel in the Defence Forces out of an established strength of 9,500,[13] a decrease from September 2020 when there were 8,529 personnel, comprising 6,878 Army, 752 Air Corps and 899 Naval Service personnel.[14] As of August 2024, there were also 1,720 personnel in the Reserve Defence Force out of an established strength of 4,069.[4]
The Irish state hasa long-standing policy ofnon-belligerence in armed conflicts, includingneutrality in World War II. Ireland's military capabilities are modest. However, the state has a long history of involvement inUnited Nations peacekeeping operations. Functions of the Defence Forces include:
The Defence Forces trace their origins to theIrish Volunteers, founded in 1913. Their officialIrish-language title,Óglaigh na hÉireann, is taken from the equivalent Irish-language title of the Irish Volunteers, as are theircap badge and the buttons worn on ceremonial uniforms (the buttons are still marked with the initials "IV").[16]
The Irish Volunteers were central to theEaster Rising staged in April 1916. After the rising, the Volunteers gave allegiance to theFirst Dáil, the parliament of therevolutionaryIrish Republic. At this time, the Volunteers became known as theIrish Republican Army (IRA). From 1919 onwards, the IRA waged aguerrilla campaign againstBritish rule in Ireland that is now known as theWar of Independence.
Atruce in July 1921 brought hostilities to an end; theAnglo-Irish Treaty was signed on 6 December. TheProvisional Government was then constituted on 14 January 1922. The IRA was divided between those who accepted the decision of the Dáil in ratifying the Treaty and those who did not: consequently, bothcivil war and re-occupation by the British became possible.[17] In February 1922, the pro-treaty IRA became theNational Army of the Irish Free State.[17] With declining relations between the remaining units of theanti-treaty IRA and the newly recruited pro-treaty National Army, theIrish Civil War broke out on 28 June 1922. It ended in victory for the National Army when, on 24 May 1923, the anti-treatyIRA Chief of Staff,Frank Aiken ordered his volunteers to dump arms.[17]
On 3 August 1923 the new state passed the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, raising "an armed force to be called Oglaigh na hEireann [sic] (hereinafter referred to as the Forces) consisting of such number ofofficers,non-commissioned officers, and men as may from time to time be provided by theOireachtas the new parliament of the Irish Free State."[18] The Forces were established on 1 October 1924.[17]
The state was officially neutral duringWorld War II but declared anofficial state of emergency on 2 September 1939, and the Army was mobilised. As the Emergency progressed, more and newer equipment was purchased for the rapidly expanding force from Britain and the United States as well as some manufactured at home. For the duration of the Emergency, Ireland, while formally neutral, tacitly supported theAllies in several ways.[19] Allied aircraft were allowed to access theAtlantic Ocean via theDonegal Corridor. German military personnel were interned in theCurragh along with the belligerent powers' servicemen, whereas Allied airmen and sailors who crashed in Ireland were very often repatriated, usually by secretly moving them across the border toNorthern Ireland.[19]G2, the Army's intelligence section, played a vital role in the detection and arrest of German spies, such asHermann Görtz.
In September 1946, the Naval Service was established as Ireland's maritime force and as a permanent component of the Defence Forces.
Ireland became a member of theUnited Nations in 1955. The first contribution to peacekeeping was in 1958 when Army officers were assigned to theUnited Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (UNOGIL). Since 1958 the Defence Forces have had a continuous presence on armedUnited Nations peacekeeping operations, except between May 1974 to May 1978 (although they did retain overseas unarmed observer missions during this period). The first armed peacekeeping mission was to theOperation des Nations Unies au Congo (ONUC) in 1960. During the ONUC mission, a company from the Irish Army were involved in abattle at Jadotville, in which the Irish held out against a larger Katangese force. A memorial to Irish personnel who served as United Nations peacekeepers was unveiled in 2009 in the town ofFermoy, recording that there was a total of ninety Irish fatalities while on active service with the UN until that date.[20]
Duringthe Troubles, the period of civil conflict centred onNorthern Ireland from 1969 to 1998, the Defence Forces deployed to aid the Garda Síochána. Troops were deployed for duty tothe border areas, new border military posts were established, and in 1973 new permanent border units were established.[citation needed] In 1969-70, there were proposals considered for a limited military intervention in Northern Ireland to protect the nationalist community, known asExercise Armageddon, but it was seen to be unworkable and was not adopted by the cabinet.[21] Although units were moved to the border region in 1969–70 during theBattle of the Bogside, in order to provide medical support to those wounded in the fighting.[22] In 1974, troops were deployed to maximum-security prisons inPortlaoise andLimerick where IRA prisoners were detained. Armed troops were deployed in 1976 to all major post offices during a three-month national bank strike.[citation needed] In 1978,cash-in-transit escorts were established to protect large cash movements throughout the state, continuing until 2014.[23] TheCentral Bank of Ireland had the Government put in place contingency plans to provide armed Defence Force security for major Irish banks over public order fears if a cash shortage was triggered during the2008 financial crisis.[24] Tasks inmilitary aid to the civil power continue today, but no longer to the same degree or intensity.[citation needed]
As of March 2025, there were 428 Defence Forces personnel deployed to overseas missions and locations in 17 missions. The missions were:[5]
| Organization | Area | Name | Deployed |
|---|---|---|---|
| UN | Middle East | UNTSO | 13 |
| UN | Lebanon | UNIFIL | 350 |
| UN | Syria | UNDOF | 3 |
| EU | Bosnia and Herzegovina | EUFOR | 5 |
| NATO | Kosovo | KFOR | 13 |
| EU | Italy | EUNAVFOR MED IRINI | 4 |
| OSCE | Austria | Irish Representative at OSCE Headquarters | 1 |
| EU | Belgium | Irish EU Military Staff | 8 |
| EU | Germany | EU Battlegroup | 14 |
| UN | USA | Irish UN Delegation Military Adviser | 1 |
| OSCE | Austria | Irish OSCE Delegation Military Adviser | 1 |
| EU | Belgium | Military Representative to EU | 4 |
| NATO | Belgium | Liaison Officer of Ireland to NATO | 4 |
| EU | Belgium | EUOperation Althea | 1 |
| NATO | Belgium | Irish Liaison Officer toSHAPE & Military Co-Op Division | 1 |
| UN | Uganda | UNMAS | 1 |
| EU | EUMAM UA | 4 |
In 2020, the Irish defence budget was €1.04bn. This included €780m on defence and €259m on army pensions.[25] Department of Defence spending was 0.27% of GDP in 2020 and 0.29% in 2019.[26]
In 2022, the defence sector budget was €1.1bn and in July of that year the Irish government announced plans to increase this to €1.5bn by 2028. As part of the plans to move to "Level of Action 2", as of 2022, the number of civil and military personnel was set to be increased from 9,500 to 11,500. Planning also began for improvements in radar capabilities.[27] The Defence Forces specified the procurement of an integrated radar system for land, sea and air function and that the Army's structures and capabilities would be redesigned to meet "international best practice". The plan also proposed the establishment of an Office of Reserve Affairs to design a Reserve Defence Forces "regeneration plan".[28]
The projected budget for 2024 was €1.5bn, including an extra €21m over previous expenditure and €34m in capital expenditure on top of the original capital ceiling of the National Development Plan.[29] This also included budget for an additional 400 enlisted personnel during 2024.[30][31]
| Defence expenditure 1999–2019 as a percentage of GDP[32] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Defence expenditure €m | Gross Domestic Product €m | Expenditure as % of GDP |
| 1999 | 760 | 92,669 | 0.82% |
| 2000 | 820 | 108,400 | 0.76% |
| 2001 | 731 | 122,010 | 0.60% |
| 2002 | 725 | 135,956 | 0.53% |
| 2003 | 711 | 145,534 | 0.49% |
| 2004 | 733 | 156,189 | 0.47% |
| 2005 | 759 | 170,231 | 0.45% |
| 2006 | 772 | 184,914 | 0.42% |
| 2007 | 817 | 197,130 | 0.41% |
| 2008 | 880 | 187,620 | 0.47% |
| 2009 | 804 | 169,786 | 0.47% |
| 2010 | 744 | 167,674 | 0.44% |
| 2011 | 704 | 170,951 | 0.41% |
| 2012 | 657 | 175,104 | 0.38% |
| 2013 | 667 | 179,616 | 0.37% |
| 2014 | 673 | 195,148 | 0.34% |
| 2015 | 671 | 262,853 | 0.26% |
| 2016 | 671 | 270,809 | 0.25% |
| 2017 | 681 | 300,387 | 0.23% |
| 2018 | 701 | 326,986 | 0.21% |
| 2019 | 756 | 356,051 | 0.21% |
| 2020 | 781 | ||
| 2021 | 755 | ||
| 2022 | 802 | ||
| 2023 | 872 | ||
| 2024 | 908 | ||
| 2025 | 995 | ||
The Defence Forces are organised under theChief of Staff, supported by Deputy Chief of Staff Operations, and the Deputy Chief of Staff Support.[33] They consist of a Permanent Defence Force (PDF), which is astanding force and provides the main capability for military operations, and theReserve Defence Forces (RDF),[34]military reserve forces which support the PDF if necessary. The PDF is organised into three service branches: theArmy, theNaval Service, and theAir Corps. The RDF may be further subdivided into a First Line Reserve (FLR) and a Second Line Reserve; the First Line Reserve comprises former members of the Permanent Defence Force, while the Second Line Reserve comprises anArmy Reserve and aNaval Service Reserve (both recruited directly from the civilian population).[35] A reorganization of the RDF in 2013, referred to as the "single force concept", has resulted in units of the RDF being embedded within units of the PDF, rather than existing entirely in parallel as a separate reserve force; this moves away from the traditional approach of the RDF being considered a fourth service branch of the Defence Forces.
In January 2022, the Commission on the Defence Forces recommended the establishment of an 'Information Command', under the command of a general, to handle cyberattacks and misinformation.[36]
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As of December 2023, the Army had approximately 6,136 active personnel,[13] with 1,351 personnel in theArmy Reserve.[4] Up to late 2012 the army had threebrigades: 1 Southern, 2 Eastern and 4 Western; in 2012,4 Western Brigade stood down at its HQ Custume Barracks, Athlone. The state is now divided into two Brigade areas for administrative and operational reasons, with the former 4 Western Brigade split between the other two brigades. In addition to the brigade structure, there is also the Defence Forces Training Centre, a logistics base in theCurragh.
The two-brigade structure envisages distinct operational areas of responsibility for each of the brigades. The1st Brigade has primary responsibility for operational tasks in the southern region, while the2nd Brigade leads on operational tasks in the eastern and western regions. Practical operational considerations dictate the requirement to outline operational areas of responsibility. The brigade structure is based on strengthenedcombat andcombat-support elements, together with streamlinedcombat-service-support elements.
The Army has nine specialistcorps, each designated as either combat, combat support or combat service support. These are theInfantry Corps,Artillery Corps,Cavalry Corps,Engineer Corps,Ordnance Corps,Medical Corps,Transport Corps,Military Police Corps, and theCommunications and Information Services Corps. In the case of corps which support theinfantry, a Corps Director and staff are provided to coordinate the purchase of specialised equipment, the execution of specialised training, and other necessary activities.
Irish infantry are equipped withassault rifles,machine guns,grenade launchers,hand grenades, andanti-tank weapons. Most weapons used by their defence forces followNATO standards and are purchased from abroad, with Ireland having a very limited arms industry. The Army has light armoured vehicles, with the primary vehicle being theMOWAG Piranha, armed with machine guns. Itsartillery capabilities consist of 120mm mortars and towed 105mm light guns.
TheArmy Ranger Wing (ARW) are thespecial forces of Ireland. They are based at the Curragh.
The Air Corps is the air component of the Defence Forces. Its HQ is atCasement (Baldonnel) Aerodrome. The Air Corps is the smallest of the branches of the Defence Forces, with approximately 689 personnel,[13] and its primary roles are defined as:
There are two secondary roles:
The Air Corps provides support to the Army and Naval Service, together with non-military air services such as theEmergency Aeromedical (air ambulance) Service, VIP transport, andsearch and rescue (in support ofCoast Guard search and rescue efforts). The Air Corps is unable to provide the traditional air force role of defending Irish airspace as it has nofighter aircraft.
The Air Corps has twoAirbus C295 maritime patrol aircraft equipped with detection systems to assist the Naval Service in patrolling Ireland's territorial waters andexclusive economic zone. These aircraft are also used forhigh-altitude, low-opening parachuting by the Army's ARW. The Air Corps has sixAgustaWestland AW139utility helicopters capable of being armed withFN MAG machine guns. These are used in support of the ARW, Naval Service andGarda Síochána operations, and are the only helicopters within the state capable of flying at night in mountain terrain usingnight-vision technology. The eightPilatus PC-9 turboprop trainers can be equipped withrocket pods and machine guns, and twoEurocopter EC135 light utility helicopters (which can be used as sniper platforms by the ARW) are used for training pilots and for air-ambulance missions.
The Air Corps conducted over 130 maritime surveillance patrol flights in 2019, and provided medical support to theHSE for patients by conducting over 233Emergency Aeromedical Service missions and 32 inter-hospital air ambulance transfers.[37]
The Naval Service maintains a complement of approximately 725 active personnel[13] and 97 reserve personnel[4] and is tasked with patrolling Irishterritorial waters as well as theIrish Conservation Box, a large area of sea in which fishing is restricted to preserve fish numbers. It is tasked with enforcing thisEuropean-Union-protected area and thus serves the EU as well as Ireland.[38] Together with theAir Corps andCustoms, it has intercepted a number of vessels carrying narcotics to and from Ireland.[39]
The Naval Service has six patrol vessels (2xP50, 4xP60) which are operated in support of the service's primary roles, inflatable seagoing craft, and training vessels. It maintains highly-trained armedboarding parties that can seize a vessel if necessary. In 2019, for example, there were approximately 780 boarding operations and 12 vessels were detained .[37] The service's specialised diving unit is theNaval Service Diving Section.
The primary role is defined as "National Security", with secondary roles which include:[38]
TheReserve Defence Forces (RDF) in its current form was established in October 2005 and comprises the First Line Reserve,Army Reserve (AR) andNaval Service Reserve (NSR). The RDF is a part-time, voluntary component of the Defence Forces in peacetime, supporting the Permanent Defence Forces (PDF) in its domestic roles and training alongside its professional full-time colleagues as part of the "Single Force Concept" whereby RDF units are integrated with their PDF counterparts, coming under the one command. As of August 2024, there were 1,720 reservists out of an established strength of 4,096, consisting of 167 in the First Line Reserve, 1,456 in the Army Reserve, and 97 in the Naval Service Reserve.[4]
The interests of members of the Defence Forces are represented by a number of representative associations, similar totrade unions (which Irish military personnel are banned from joining).Officers of the PDF are represented by theRepresentative Association of Commissioned Officers,[40]Rank-and-file members of the PDF are represented by thePermanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA), which is affiliated to theIrish Conference of Professional and Service Associations and to the European Organisation of Military Associations,EUROMIL. In 2009, members of PDFORRA took part in anIrish Congress of Trade Unions protest against the government's handling of thepost-2008 Irish economic downturn, at which time theDepartment of Defence warned that Defence Forces members could not take part in or sponsor any "public agitation", and that PDFORRA had "no express permission" for members to take part in the protests.[41] All ranks of the RDF are represented by theReserve Defence Forces Representative Association (RDFRA).[42]
Complaints concerning and made by serving and former members of the Defence Forces can be investigated by the independentOffice of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (ODF), in cases where internal grievance procedures within the DF have been exhausted.[43]
The Defence Forces operate a number ofmilitary bases:
Applicants must be 18 years of age and under 39 years of age
As of 31 August 2024, the effective strength of the Second Line Reserve stood at 1,553, which consists of 1,456 Army Reserve personnel and 97 Naval Service Reserve personnel. On the same date, the strength of the First Line Reserve stood at 167 personnel
...cialluíonn an abairt 'na Fórsaí Cosanta' na Fórsaí agus an Cúltaca. (...the expression 'the Defence Forces' means the Forces and the Reserve.)
It shall be lawful for the Government to raise, train, equip, arm, pay and maintain defence forces to be called and known asÓglaigh na hÉireann or (in English) the Defence Forces.
'The Defence Forces' are officially styled by the Army itself asÓglaigh na hÉireann in Irish, as againstna Fórsaí Cosanta.
the Minister for Defence ... shall be assisted by a Council of Defence
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