Ireland is capable and prepared to protect EU leaders at Dublin summits – Harris

Ireland has the capabilities to protect European leaders who will gather in Dublin for two major summits next month, the Tánaiste has insisted.Simon Harris said the Irish Government is taking the security of the events “extraordinarily seriously”.Commenting on the potential for drone incursions as Dublin hosts a meeting of the European Political Community on November 12 followed by an informal meeting of EU heads of state the next day, Mr Harris acknowledged such incursions “can and do happen”.But he stressed that Ireland is not being “complacent” about the potential security risks around the meetings.Ireland is hosting the summits as part of its ongoing presidency of the EU Council.Mr Harris also expressed hope that members of the Garda would not opt to engage in work-to-rule industrial action during the summits.Representatives of rank-and-file gardaí are considering such a step amid a dispute over working conditions during Ireland’s six-month EU Council presidency.The Tánaiste told RTÉ Radio One: “I suppose it’s a statement of the blindingly obvious that the higher profile of an international event that you host in any country, I suppose the greater the level of security priority that needs to be attached to it.“I really want to thank the men and women of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces for the tireless work they’ve been doing during the Irish presidency of the Council of the European Union.“We’ve had a number of big events already, all of which I’m pleased to say have gone well, but there’s no room for complacency.“There are two big events due to be held in this country in November – one being the informal meeting of the European Council and the other being what they call the European Political Community. In other words, we’ll see lots of heads of state and heads of government in Dublin for that.Ireland’s EU presidency began in July (PA)PA Wire“Next week, we will have a meeting of our National Ministerial Security Council, where we’ll of course be updated on preparations and plans around that. We don’t discuss the content of that, other than to say and to reassure the public that this is something that’s taken extraordinarily seriously.”Read MoreHe added: “We do have the capabilities to protect, and the reason I’m reticent to say too much is there can be people listening into this programme who don’t have the best interests of Ireland at heart, and therefore we should never over-comment on national security, other than to say we’re investing more in defence than ever before.“We’re increasing our defence capabilities, whether that’s around radar or sonar, we’ve shown an ability so far to host a presidency of the European Union that has gone well, gone well from a delivery point of view, but also gone well from a security point of view.“And while we don’t comment and shouldn’t comment, for fear of bad actors, on national security issues, I am confident that this country is prepared.”Mr Harris noted there had been drone incursions in many countries, including those that had made “massive investment” in their military and defence.“So drone incursions can and do happen,” he said.“What I am saying is that we are not in any way complacent about security in relation to these events or our national security more generally, and that we are robustly preparing for those events that will be held in November.“I have every confidence in both the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces (Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy) and the Garda Commissioner (Justin Kelly).”