Ireland being pushed towards militarism by reliance on foreign investment, say experts

Ireland is increasingly being pressured to join in the global arms race towards oblivion that is currently gripping the world’s ruling classes. That’s according to an assessment by three academics from various Irish universities. They say that foreign investors will expect Ireland to be able to defend itself before continuing to plough money into sustaining the country’s position as a major tech hub.

Patrick Bresnihan and Rory Rowan are respectively associate and assistant professors in geography. Patrick Brodie lectures in Information and Communication Studies. Writing in the Irish Examiner, they argue Ireland is currently at the forefront of a move towards:

…the EU’s “twin transition” that requires the simultaneous digitalisation and decarbonisation of European economies and the rapid expansion of competitive AI capacity…

They describe the country as “a leader on this front”, due to:

…hosting most of the major US tech companies and providing a laboratory for green tech development.

Colonial commentators call for Ireland to militarise

This has resulted in an increasing clamour from “prominent commentators” suggesting Ireland is freeloading on defence spending used to protect this infrastructure. They cite the example of Lord Paul Bew, who says:

…the British public should be aware of “just how much Ireland benefits from Nato and the UK”

Bew has been described by the Times of Israel as a “long-time Israel supporter“. He is chairman of the Anglo-Israel Association and recently described the genocidal settler-colony as being “subjected to an appalling smear campaign”. Such associations imply Bew would be incentivised to argue the case for Ireland being pulled into the imperial alliance of Western states that defend the West Asian land theft project.

The authors correctly describe Ireland as “exceptionally dependent on FDI (foreign direct investment)”. This has been ‘achieved’ by the nation prostrating itself before multinational companies — largely US tech giants — by offering bargain basement tax rates. This act of global anti-solidarity lowers the floor for such taxes across the world in a race to the bottom, hurting government revenues everywhere while empowering massive corporations.

Ireland’s supposed neutrality is preventing arms companies from access to an additional gravy train as Europe looks to race back to the 1930s via a policy of military-Keynesianism. This neutrality is largely a sham. Micheál Martin’s government participates in colonial ventures ranging from the holocaust in Gaza to the crippling of Venezuela. Nonetheless, it does have relatively low defence spending by European standards.

Hence the whining from the imperial commentariat about Ireland being defenceless, aimed at pushing the fear of losing outside investment the country depends on. This is described by the Irish academics as “militarising FDI”, which entrenches:

…Ireland deeper into the militarism that threatens to destabilise the planet and destroy any meaningful chance of averting climate catastrophe.

They also cite examples of Martin’s government intending to commit itself to greater involvement in the “military-tech nexus”. They say:

…the Government was seeking to remove barriers under the 1987 Science and Technology Act that prevent Enterprise Ireland from participating in contracts of “primarily military relevance”. Simultaneously, justice minister Jim O’Callaghan plans to establish a new national security agency to provide the clearances for sensitive defence contracts.

Irish government already enabling genocidal tech firm Palantir

Recent examples show the foothold this industry already has in Ireland. Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes was found to have profited to the tune of €199,000 from sale of shares in genocidal tech firm Palantir.

The Irish government retains its own investment in the same company, despite its massive role in Zionist war crimes. Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp is at the forefront of the cabal of billionaires and politicians now openly parading their cruelty and sadism, so confident are they in the levels of impunity they currently have. The unhinged mass murderer grinned when confronted by a woman telling him “You’re killing my family in Palestine”. He has also said he’s proud that:

…the death and pain that is brought to our enemies is mostly, not exclusively, brought by Palantir.

Relatedly, in August 2025, reports revealed that Microsoft servers in Ireland were hosting the phone calls of Palestinians hoovered up by the Zionist entity’s Unit 8200 surveillance team.

The academics highlight how threats of withdrawing FDI already affect Irish government policy. The Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) is intended to prevent trade with ‘illegal settlements’ in so-called ‘Israel’. The OTB is watered down legislation that ought to prohibit trade with all of ‘Israel’, given the illegitimate state is all stolen land. Despite this, it has led to hostility from prominent figures in the US and ‘Israel’.

Hence, this dependency on FDI:

…runs counter to the democratic will of the Irish public, as polling and widespread public protests in support of Palestine and neutrality consistently show.

Given its history of suffering under imperialism, Ireland could be an important beacon leading away from a return to 19th century-style “might makes right” geopolitics. Instead, the neoliberal economic model it has enmeshed itself in appears to be dragging it increasingly into a race towards armageddon.

Featured image via Irish Defence Force