Ire Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Irish Defense Forces (Oglaigh na h-Eireannn): Army, Air Corps, Naval Service, Reserve Defense Forces (2022)

Military expenditures

0.3% of GDP (2021)

0.3% of GDP (2020)

0.3% of GDP (2019) (approximately $1.27 billion)

0.3% of GDP (2018) (approximately $1.25 billion

0.3% of GDP (2017) (approximately $1.21 billion)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 8,500 active duty personnel (6,800 Army; 900 Naval Service; 800 Air Corps) (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Irish Defense Forces have a small inventory of imported weapons systems from a variety of mostly European countries; the UK is the leading supplier of military hardware to Ireland since 2010 (2021)

Military service age and obligation

18-25 years of age for male and female voluntary military service recruits to the Defence Forces (18-27 years of age for the Naval Service); 18-26 for cadetship (officer) applicants; 12-year service (5 active, 7 reserves) (2022)

note: as of 2021, women made up about 7% of the military's full-time personnel

note 2: the Defense Forces are open to refugees under the Refugee Act of 1996 and nationals of the European Economic Area, which include EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway

Military deployments

130 Golan Heights (UNDOF); 320 Lebanon (UNIFIL) (May 2022)

Military - note

the Irish Defense Forces trace their origins back to the Irish Volunteers, a unit established in 1913; the Irish Volunteers took part in the 1916 Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence, 1919-1921

Ireland has a long-standing policy of military neutrality; however, it participates in international peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, as well as crisis management; Ireland is a signatory of the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy and has committed a battalion of troops to the EU’s Rapid Reaction Force; Ireland is not a member of NATO, but has a relationship going back to 1997 when it deployed personnel in support of the NATO-led peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Ireland joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 1999; Ireland has been an active participate in UN peacekeeping operations since the 1950s

NOTE: The information regarding Ire on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ire 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ire 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.