Arms Lobbyist’s 2024 policy brief, becomes 2026 defense policy.

Published 31/Aug/2026 By Ross McGann

In April of 2024 the Irish Defence and Security Association (IDSA) sent Simon Harris, then Minister for Defence and foreign affairs, a policy brief. The IDSA are a Lobby group who represent Global Arms manufactures such as Lockheed Martin, KNDS, Kongsberg and many more. The Policy brief was obtained through a freedom of information request that was originally used for content for the campaign group Uplift.ie

To Begin the policy brief speaks about the finances behind Ireland’s defense budget. References made to Levels of Ambition known as LOA’s:

“The Irish government has agreed to increasing investment
in the Defence Forces to €1.5 billion, in 2022 prices, by 2028 through the annual estimates
process, with consideration thereafter of a move to LOA3.”

LOA 2 in this instance is €1.5 Billion and LOA 3 is €1.7 Billion, as of budget 2026 the LOA 2 was reached, two years ahead of scheduled. As government departments such as education and healthcare are expected to tighten their budgets in 2027, Defence is expected to rise inline with Defence Sectoral National Development Plan 2026–2030 which is also LOA 3’s level of spending of €1.7 Billion, “consideration” clearly considered.

There are many reasons to properly fund the Irish Defence forces, our blue helmet Peacekeepers are respected across the globe, they assist at times of national crisis such as after storms or during wild fires and their band are pretty decent. The reality though is that for the last decade they have struggled with recruitment and retention issues, the minimum operational baseline set in 2016 was 9,500 permanent members of the DF, with an actual figure of 9,219. The target that has been set for 2028 is 11,500, with the current number at around 7816 in 2026.

Another topic that is heavily empathized in the brief is the need for Ireland to make closure relationships with the arms industry across Europe, calls on Ireland to be “a responsible neighbour” and pushes for further “Industrial participation”

“NEXT STEPS AND ROADMAP TO SUPPORT IRELAND’S NATIONAL DEFENCE
AMBITIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTH GLOBAL AND EUROPEAN
SECURITY THROUGH INDUSTRIAL PARTICIPATION POLICY“

Under the above heading they have called on the government to “clarify the current industrial participation need within existing frameworks immediately” and also “Develop a national defence industry strategy and the industrial participation policy”. In 2026 the minister for defence removed the requirement for ministerial approval before agencies like Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland can support dual-use and defence-aligned firms. The IDA can now also market Ireland to international defence and securities companies.

While the government have committed to not taking part in the manufacturing of offensive weapons, their plans do include great support for surveillance and AI, raising concerns regards the needs for additional Energy hungry Data centers, further erosion of peoples civil liberties & privacy and government involvement with AI companies involved in the Palestinian Genocide and state sanctioned ICE pogroms in the USA.

Looking at recent government spending on defence, in 2026 the Irish government purchased four light lift helicopters after the landmark commission on defence had recommended two medium lift helicopters were purchased. Medium lift helicopters can be used in cases of rescue missions, troop deployment and evacuations as well as firefighting. The light lift helicopters purchased have much less capacity for the same actives, with the firefighting capacity about half what the medium lift ones are.

The government claim that they were purchased for “Modern training” purposes while they await the latest addition of the Medium lift helicopters to be released. Four Airbus H145M helicopters were purchased for €128 Million and are capable but not currently equipped to fire missiles.

Outside of official and on record lobbying by the IDSA on behalf of Global arms manufacturers Government officials have had secretive “Closed door” meetings with representatives. These reports have lead many concerned to be concerned that recent change in party stance of Fianna Fail regarding The Triplelock and Irish Neutrality has been influenced by the Lobby group.