Joseph Dillon

Everything keeping Estonia safe is absent in Ireland: ❌Sustained investment ❌Ironclad relations with allies ❌Comprehensive defence ❌Domestic & foreign intel services ❌Rapid reserve mobilisation We don't have to copy/paste but we do have to adapt. news.err.ee/1609751759/mar…

An unforced error that I hope will be corrected. This is exactly the kind of thing that critics of helping Ukraine will latch onto. It's impossible for Brussels to defend, and makes it harder to (eventually) think about and plan for EU membership. politico.eu/article/ukrain…

So corrupt that they established one of the world's most successful and well funded anti-fraud agencies. There are legitimate criticisms of the EU but I'm not going to do your homework for you. 🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺 anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu/investigations…

Common misconception. We don't have an opt out but there is an additional protocol. It "clarifies" things that were already obvious about the Lisbon Treaty and its relationship to the Irish Constitution. The Treaty is dense but the Protocol is not: eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…)

No one can say they didn’t know. Any one supporting the Israeli war in #Gaza is doing so, with the full knowledge of the crimes being committed. Killing of civilians, denial of food/medicine and now mass starvation, are crimes against humanity. bbc.com/news/articles/…

The EU would happily continue as an economic project. War has come to Europe though, and it is absolutely appropriate that meaningful steps are taken now to protect the Union. The triple lock should be binned.

A slow plod towards LOA2 but at least we're going in the right direction. Much public displeasure at increased defence spending could be mitigated if gov were to lean more heavily on EU financing (SAFE) and procurement initiatives (EDA etc.) irishexaminer.com/news/arid-4167…

For the love of god, let the thousands of trucks of food in and end this horror. Let aid agencies do their jobs. Children are being starved to death. It is not normal to hear this - to see the images - and move on. We are at a point of moral failure so deep it’s hard to believe.

Ireland was always a soft target. But as Europe hardens its defences and Russian options are constrained, Ireland becomes relatively more vulnerable. It is inevitable that we will see more unfriendly activity. And our neighbours will soon get tired of bailing us out.

It has been over a decade since Russia murdered 298 civilians. government.nl/topics/mh17-in…

We cannot move quickly enough on this.

“Soc Dems Foreign Policy Is Unserious – That’s why I left the party” by Dave McGinn medium.com/@davemcginn/so…

The value of EU membership proven by the contrast between Poland’s post communist trajectory & its neighbour Ukraine. If you were Ukrainian the prospects to the West are far more attractive than the Russian yoke. See below

Ukraine helped the United States by deploying over 5,000 soldiers after the 9/11 attacks, despite not being in NATO. 18 Ukrainian soldiers perished. Russia refused to send any soldiers.

I spoke to @gavreilly about the European security situation Being against war but opposing defence spending is like saying you're against crime but oppose policing When you don’t spend on policing, crime proliferates as bullies can act with impunity

Now that Trump has been elected, US military aid for Ukraine will soon dry up. If we have any intention of not letting Putin win, the EU and UK must now seize the $300 billion of Russian central bank reserves and use that money to support Ukraine. cepa.org/article/seizur…

My article in today’s @IrishMailSunday

I told Viktor Orbán that he is the useful idiot of Russia and China. He was not amused:

Nuclear and Renewables will be almost 40% cheaper than renewables and storage, according to the US DOE Director of Strategy, Julie Kozeracki. The Irish government needs to conduct their own study into what will be cheapest carbon free energy mix for Ireland.