Ire Military - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Irish Defense Forces (Oglaigh na h-Eireannn): Army, Air Corps, Naval Service, Reserve Defense Forces (2023)

note: An Garda Siochana (or Garda) is the national police force and maintains internal security under the auspices of the Department of Justice

Military expenditures

0.3% of GDP (2022)

0.3% of GDP (2021)

0.3% of GDP (2020)

0.3% of GDP (2019)

0.3% of GDP (2018)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 8,000 active-duty personnel (2023)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Irish Defense Forces have a small inventory of imported weapons systems from a variety of mostly European countries, particularly the UK (2023)

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) (2023)

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); 325 Lebanon (UNIFIL) (2023)

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 participant in UN peacekeeping operations since the 1950s

(2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Ire on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ire 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ire 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.