@BigPaulieDoyle It is also shocking that we get so much grief about being neutral, and other countries yours their lack of neutrality to help Russia and Israel steal the land of others.

@BeardsonBeardly @McnettDoug Probably because they run the other way when they see you?

@xomaa01 @pxielovee Simping for a sex crim eh Grey.

@PhilipProudfoot @Inevitablewest Ah here the Indian dude is now pretending his account is "English managed"! Which I assume means he has outsourced it to Bangladesh

@richardohall57 @ciarannugent @danobrien20 @irishexaminer No one. That's the point. Ireland has civilian air defence needs vs rogue or hijacked planes. Beyond that it's incredibly unlikely Ireland needs to defend against anything. Unless Sierra Leone decides to invade or something.

@workmansflopera @PeterDooleyDUB Nah fuck it just arrest a rando like its an incrimination lottery, so those reactionary ludders have something to whinge about.

@mickruby @DanielHussey2 Yeah Molloy was better than this muck

@DanielHussey2 These fucking OTB losers would they ever shut the fuck up please. Always Leinster D4 heads as well.

@ciarannugent @richardohall57 @danobrien20 @irishexaminer Don't know the other fella, but I think it is more that the deal allows them access to our FIR so they can chase planes that are actual after them. And if that means we get some air defence its a byproduct The reality is we are a pawn in the game, whether we are in NATO or not.

@danobrien20 @irishexaminer Dan are you lobbying in your spare time for Lockheed Martin like some other Irish academics? Are you concerned at all about arms manufacturers money dictating our national conversation?

@Inevitablewest Your sources at home in Dubai tell you that?

@academic_la Why are they doing this? Probably because Trump and Netanyahu are talking about ethnically cleansing Gaza.

@mccullaghniall @PBresnihan @MaynoothUni @NTBreakfast You could always go chat to the TCD academics who have been doing lobbying for Lockheed Martin, famously scrupulous company. Maybe they are more up your street?

@Senecaarendt @DangerKidsBooks @Ailinocochlain @ciarannugent That's grand, I'd suggest maybe looking at the causes of the Troubles in more detail, that's all. Giving it "both sides" particularly for the late 60s is madness. All the best

@Senecaarendt @DangerKidsBooks @Ailinocochlain @ciarannugent I'm all for close collaboration with the EU on defence. We do so a lot through training and peacekeeping, could do more. I'm not for NATO, certainly not with Trump for the next four years. I'm dead against defence lobbyists trying to hawk their merch to us.

@Senecaarendt @DangerKidsBooks @Ailinocochlain @ciarannugent You glossed over the entire reasons NI ended up with the Army in the first place. It was because security forces, the RUC, were utterly rife with collision with loyalist paras Again, within two years of arriving the Army committed two massacres they then lied about for 40 years

@Senecaarendt @DangerKidsBooks @Ailinocochlain @ciarannugent Why? Our risk is the same no matter who is flying with their transponders off or hijacked. It just so happens only one state is doing the former. Also it happens once every few years, framing that like we are at The Alamo only for the RAF is just silly.

@Senecaarendt @DangerKidsBooks @Ailinocochlain @ciarannugent Not in 1969 they didn't. The OIRA was basically defunct, they didn't even come out to defend The Bogside. I agree x posts won't do it justice but "it didn't turn into Bosnia because of defence forces" is utterly farcical.

@Senecaarendt @DangerKidsBooks @Ailinocochlain @ciarannugent It is mainly based on those things. During WW2 there was some support for Allied access and returning pilots, aside from that we depend on the rule of law and diplomacy. That's it.

@Senecaarendt @DangerKidsBooks @Ailinocochlain @ciarannugent It makes perfect sense. The current risk of another country's air force attacking us out of the blue is tiny, the risk is to our civilian airspace.