Ireland’s Freeloading:

Defenceless Cables, Sinn Féin’s Childish Cant, and a Bill We Won’t Pay

Round the pub, we’ve a saying: if you’re skint, don’t lecture the barman on ethics while sipping his stout on tick. Ireland’s that fella—preening about neutrality, wagging fingers at the world, yet too cheap to guard its own back door. The transatlantic cables—those thin fibre-optic lifelines under the Atlantic—carry 97% of the planet’s internet traffic: your bank transfers, Netflix binges, Pentagon memos.

Three-quarters of them snake through Ireland’s maritime patch, the Exclusive Economic Zone, a watery sprawl stretching 200 nautical miles from our coast. They’re worth trillions—€10 trillion in annual data flows by some reckonings—and we can’t defend them. Not a sausage. Russia’s submarines prowl, China’s got its eye, and Ireland’s navy? Six boats, two mothballed for want of sailors. Pathetic doesn’t cover it.

Let’s break this down for the punter who thinks “defence” is just lads in green playing war. Those cables aren’t pipes—they’re threads of glass, bundled in steel, sunk deep to ferry bytes across oceans. One lands at Killala, Mayo; another at Cork. Cut one, and London’s stock exchange stutters, New York’s banks blink, NATO’s comms falter. In 2022, Russia parked its navy 240 kilometers off Cork—right by those cables—for “exercises.” Coincidence? Pull the other one. Baltic cables got snipped in 2023—Finland reckoned Moscow’s lot did it. Taiwan’s lines went dark same year; guess who. Ireland’s next, and our Defence Forces? A grand total of 7,800 souls—soldiers, sailors, pilots—barely enough to fill Croke Park’s cheap seats. No fighter jets. No submarines. A budget of €1.35 billion in 2025—0.2% of GDP, the lowest in Europe. Denmark, same size, spends €5 billion. We’re freeloaders, plain and simple.

History’s a cruel teacher here. Ireland’s been dodging the tab since 1922. Neutrality started as a dodge But now? GDP’s €500 billion—fattened by tech giants like Apple and Google, who plug into those cables. Yet we spend less than Malta, a rock with 500,000 people. Brits cover our airspace—RAF jets scramble when Russian Bears buzz Shannon. NATO’s umbrella shelters us, gratis. Pub logic says: if you’re in the round, you chip in. Ireland’s the lad cadging pints, smirking about “independence.”

Now, the cables. They’re not just wires—they’re arteries. EU data pegs their value: 75% of transatlantic traffic—€7.5 trillion of that €10 trillion—runs through our zone. US Senator Jim Risch, head of their Foreign Relations Committee, barked in February 2025: “Ireland must pay up—those cables are your job.” He’s right. Russian ships—merchant and military—loiter off Galway, mapping lines. A 2021 cyber hit on our health service cost €100 million—imagine a cable cut. Chaos. Micheál Martin, Tánaiste in ’24, warned of sabotage risks. Our response? A “Maritime Security Strategy” still in the oven—Department of Defence says it’s “extensive,” no date attached. Useless.

Who’s to blame? Step up, Sinn Féin and the Irish left—delinquent children in green jerseys, bleating about morality while picking Uncle Sam’s pocket. Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald struts, vowing an “Irish NHS” and unity by 2030, yet their 2024 manifesto—€56 billion in spending—skips defence. Not a penny more for ships or radar. They’d rather nanny cows than guard cables—net zero’s their gospel now, as I wrote in “Ireland’s New Green Shame.” The left’s worse: Labour and Social Democrats clutch pearls over “militarism,” blind to the fact neutrality’s a luxury paid by others. Moral superiority on the cheap, a nation of pious adolescents refusing to grow up. Sinn Féin’s IRA ghosts still haunt, dreaming of revolution while the Brits and Americans babysit us.

Ireland’s army can’t patrol its own turf—a 2021 Defence Commission report said we’re “incapable of meaningful defence.” Navy’s down to four ships—two rusting in dock for lack of crew. Air Corps has no fighters—PC-9 trainers don’t scare Putin. Europe spends 1.7% of GDP on defence; NATO’s at 2%. We’re at 0.2%. Luxembourg—tiny Luxembourg—spends 0.6%. We’re a joke, and the cables prove it. One sabotage job could tank €1 trillion in trade—our €500 billion economy’d choke overnight.

Pub’s verdict? Pay up or shut up. Double defence to €2.7 billion—buy ships, drones, cyber kit. Guard those cables—our job, not Britain’s. Sinn Féin and the left can’t keep playing Peter Pan, preaching while freeloading.