Affairs, Hush Hush, 9 June 2022

WHILE NATO is laden still with political risk, an EU defence pact and Irish participation is considered a done deal. In this domestic context, the former is now being used to sweeten the latter pill. The mature debate on Irish neutrality rumbles on, led by the most responsible and considerate political leaders. Micheál Martin says… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 10 November 2021

IF THE past twenty months had not already provided enough grounds for optimism, we can look forward to “the year of European defence” in 2022. The idea was proclaimed in a speech by European Council President Charles Michel last month and it reflects growing confidence among EU militarists that the momentum is firmly in their… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 23 September 2021

SOME GOOD news for Belfast industry with the announcement that the British Ministry of Defence plans to develop next-generation technology at the Thales Air Defence facility. New contracts to manufacture so-called Direct Energy Weapons (DEWs) has been reported prosaically as a standard jobs boost story, but what exactly does this entail? Economic headlines have not… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 22 July 2021

THE IRISH Times is most optimistic in an editorial this week stating that “Israel must do more to police” military-grade spyware, which has become big business and a trophy industry for the country., An investigation by Amnesty International, the Washington Post, Guardian, Le Monde and others has revealed the extent that Pegasus software developed by… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 3 February 2021

IT IS most unfortunate that the first occasion Irish Times readers have been informed of the ongoing relationship between the British state and Loyalist paramilitaries came in Wednesday’s letters page. Regrettably, the interpretation put forward by Andy Pollak and Paul Nolan does not reflect the correct sequence of events. Pollak, from the think tank, Centre… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 17 November 2020

IRISH READERS are by now used to a steady diet of cyber security coverage. Business, technology and military interests have all found an open door at most newspapers, whose audience can on any given day expect to be told either that Ireland is a cyber security powerhouse or a reckless laggard where failure to beef… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 3 November 2020

THE LONG awaited Undercover Policing Inquiry commenced in London this week and is set to shed further light on the activities and influence of British spies in Ireland. Proceedings finally began on Monday after several years of delay and obstruction. A Metropolitan Police Branch Unit known as the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) was established in… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 14 February 2020

DREW HARRIS took a highly unusual step this week when he sat down for an interview with the Irish Independent. The Garda Commissioner used this opportunity to outline his reservations about absolute encryption and impress on any future government a desire to have police granted “back door” access to the public’s devices and networks. The… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 21 November 2019

A PRECURSOR to the ‘pressure’ from the UDA on the Ulster Unionist Party to give the DUP a free run in the Westminster election in North Belfast came just a few weeks earlier. A UDA activist, closely linked to various loyalist activities, was consulted by senior DUP figures over Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy and a… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 5 November 2019

THE IRELAND and Nordic Baltic 8 Conference last week could hardly have come a more sensitive moment. Jointly hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), the gathering saw Irish policymakers, diplomats and security academics meet with counterparts from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 30 October 2019

A SPEECH last year by then TD Mick Wallace and a short paragraph in the Sunday Times, of all places, are the only references Goldhawk can find on the most audacious, multi-billion-euro stroke pulled by the arms industry and its political supporters. A ruling on a complaint to European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly gives a flavour… Read more »

Affairs, Hush Hush, 18 October 2019

Justice Minster Charlie Flanagan’s praise for Loyalist killer Willie Frazer, now deceased, looks a little misjudged. Flanagan’s posthumous eulogy to Frazer was posted on twitter after the death of the ultra-loyalist arms distributor last June, with the minister speaking of Frazer’s “unstinting campaigning for victims”. But the BBC Spotlight programme recently made clear what everyone… Read more »