Sponge growing on an underwater cable near Ireland.
Ireland’s undersea shocker: is the Emerald Isle defenceless?
Credit: Shutterstock, unterwegs
Are Ireland’s undersea cables completely defenceless?
Trouble beneath the waves: An astonishing 75% of all transatlantic internet cables pass through (or near) Ireland, making the country a key link in global communications. These vital lifelines power everything from TikTok feeds and emergency services to banking systems and secret military communications. However, some experts fear Ireland may be leaving itself wide open to potential sabotage.
Cables have become cutting-edge targets with recent incidents in the Baltic Sea – where internet cables were mysteriously severed between Finland and Estonia, then Finland and Germany, and even Sweden and Lithuania. With these ‘snips in the deep’ making headlines, questions are surfacing about who exactly guards the cables in Irish waters and its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) stretching 230 miles from the shore. The suspected attacks have apparently rattled political and military circles across Europe.
Neutral territory or a gaping hole in Europe’s defence? Ireland famously upholds a policy of neutrality, is not part of NATO, and has no submarines. What’s more, its defence spending ranks among the lowest in Europe. But experts like Senator Gerard Craughwell, who has campaigned on defence issues for a decade, warn that neutrality won’t protect Ireland if rogue actors decide to pull the plug.
Those in the know believe an undersea cable attack would trigger chaos beyond Ireland’s shores. It would hurt not just Ireland, but Britain and Europe, too. With $10tn in financial transactions flowing through subsea cables globally every day, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Secrets and Irish sovereignty
Rumours swirl that Ireland might rely on Britain’s Royal Air Force to protect its skies, a claim so persistent the government has been taken to court to uncover whether a secret arrangement exists. The Irish government refuses to comment on national security matters, reiterating that all defence policies respect the constitution, Irish sovereignty, and its military neutrality.
According to many, ‘the best way to defend neutrality is to have a defence force.’ Whether Ireland invests more to patrol its seas or sticks to its current stance, the worry remains that a single snip to those undersea cables could send shockwaves far beyond the Emerald Isle – leaving millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic high, dry, and offline.
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