STANDEASY

Over the past three months, #STANDEASY has explored the major defence and security challenges shaping Ireland's strategic environment through conversations with historians, academics, former senior military officers, former intelligence professionals, legal scholars and national security experts. In this special Season 1 finale, Dr Ed Burke returns to the podcast to step back from the individu...

This episode forms part of STANDEASY's continuing Threats Series, examining the evolving security challenges facing Ireland, Europe, and the wider international environment. In this episode, I am joined by Dr Matthew Powell from the RAF College Cranwell to explore how drones are transforming the character of modern warfare and redefining traditional concepts of air power. The discussion begins...

This episode forms part of STANDEASY's continuing Threats Series, examining the evolving security challenges facing Ireland, Europe, and the wider international environment. In this episode, I am joined by Ryan Ramsey, former Royal Navy Commander, Captain of the nuclear-powered attack submarine HMS Turbulent, and former head of the Royal Navy's renowned Submarine Command Course, "Peri...

This episode forms part of STANDEASY's continuing Threats Series, examining the evolving challenges facing Ireland, Europe, and the wider international security environment. In this episode, I am joined by Philip Ingram MBE, a former senior British Military Intelligence officer and NATO planner, to explore the role intelligence plays in modern national security and why it remains one of the mo...

This episode forms part of STANDEASY's continuing  Threats Series , examining the evolving challenges facing Ireland, Europe, and the wider international security environment. In this episode, I’m joined by Professor Andrew Mumford, Professor of War Studies at the University of Nottingham, to examine one of the most frequently discussed and often misunderstood concepts in contemporary security...

In this episode of STANDEASY, I’m joined by Dr Robert McCabe, who leads the MARSEC research project at the National Maritime College of Ireland and Munster Technological University, to examine the growing importance of maritime security and the protection of critical undersea infrastructure. While largely invisible to the public, subsea infrastructure underpins many aspects of modern life. From in...

Quick bonus episode with Dr Ed Burke from UCD discussing the requirement for a fit for purpose Irish Security Vetting System in the wake of the reports in the media today (30 May) that an Irish Citizen has been arrested for allegedly leaking confidential government information to a foreign Intelligence Service.

In this first episode of our threat series , Tony Geraghty is joined by Brigadier General (Retd) Brian Cleary and Commandant (Retd) Ken Sheehan to examine the growing challenges of cyber security and cyber warfare in Ireland. The discussion explores where cyber security ends and cyber warfare begins, whether Ireland currently has the capacity to defend itself effectively in cyberspace, and the ris...

In the final episode of this three-part series on neutrality in Ireland, I’m joined by Professor Andrew Cottey (UCC) and Dr Ed Burke (UCD) to examine what Irish neutrality means in the 21st century. Moving from the historical foundations explored in previous episodes, this discussion focuses on the contemporary strategic, political, and legal debates surrounding Irish neutrality and military non-a...

In the second episode of this three-part series on neutrality in Ireland, Dr Veronica Barry returns to examine the emergence and development of Irish neutrality in the years surrounding the Second World War. Picking up from the aftermath of the First World War, we explore the foreign policy concerns of the early Irish Free State, the limitations imposed by dominion status, and the wider European c...

" The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must " In this first episode of a three-part series, I’m joined by Dr Veronica Barry (UCD) to explore the history and evolution of neutrality in international relations, tracing its development from antiquity through to the First World War. We begin by unpacking what neutrality means in both legal and historical terms, including...

In this episode I sit down with Dr David Blagden to explore the fundamental role of the State in providing security. Together, we examine whether security is the primary duty of the State or one responsibility among many, and what gives governments the authority to raise armed forces and use force in a modern democracy. The discussion looks at how these powers are structured in Ireland, how they c...

In this episode, I sit down with Dr Ken McDonagh to examine the state of national security in Ireland. Despite work beginning in 2019, Ireland still has no published National Security Strategy. What does that delay say about how seriously the State treats security in a rapidly changing world? We explore how national security is understood across government and the public, and whether it remains to...