Soldiers can’t sleep in ditches – Wilson

Plans to redevelop the former Dún Uí Néill army barracks as a third-level education campus could be put on hold, should the facility be required to accommodate Border security personnel in a post Brexit scenario, the head of Cavan-Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB) has admitted.
It’s understood, as yet, that there have been “no formal” approaches by the Department of Defence to CMETB, the current Dublin Road site owners, in relation to the possible recommissioning of the barracks.
However, CEO John Kearney could not rule out the possibility given the current uncertainties concerning Brexit.
While committed to extending facilities for Cavan Institute, he said: “We would have to be open to all eventualities in the light of the uncertainties imposed by Brexit at the moment.”
The matter of Border security, post March 29, is a subject dictating much conversation as Britain prepares to exit the EU. The rise of dissident violence, in light of recent events in Derry, was among the items up for discussion in the Seanad during the week when the fallout of Brexit and potential security risks arising were discussed.
Cavan Senator Diarmuid Wilson is calling on Minister for Defence to come before the lower House to address the role of the army in assisting the policing of the Border. His comments come a week after the Garda Chief Superintendent for this region, John O’Reilly, said more gardaí would also be needed to help police the Border regardless of what form it takes.
Senator Wilson is demanding that the planned demolition of the Cavan army barracks for educational development be suspended until a firmer hold is placed on Border security.
Believing that there will be a return to a hard border, he remarks: “Gardaí being deployed – that means trouble, which then means the deployment of the Army – where will the Defence Force members sleep – at the back of ditches? It makes no sense at a time of huge uncertainty and a huge threat to this State – that we have a purpose-built barracks here in Cavan.”
It would not make sense, he claims, to demolish the former facility, capability of housing up to 250 personnel, when the alternative would see the State have to fork out tens of thousands of euro to accommodate troops in local hotels or prefabricated units.
Cavan and the former barracks, he adds, are “strategically located” on the Border; the former Monaghan facility has already been redeveloped for Monaghan Institute.
Senator Wilson said that, as it stands, were there an imminent and significant threat, the nearest barracks to the region is located at Athlone.
“There is a dirt track of a road from Athlone to the Border. They talk about helicopters – we have half a dozen helicopters and each can carry up to eight men – you would be a long time bringing a couple of hundred soldiers to the Border,” said Senator Wilson.
Meanwhile, retired Brigadeer General Ger Aherne lamented the passing of a time when there was 10 army barracks located along the Border, with four more in direct support, ready to manoeuvre close to 2,500 troops at a moment’s notice.
The retired army officer himself had responsibility for 263 of the 499 kilometers of the Border, from a Regional HQ in Athlone, before it too was downgraded in 2012.
There are approximately 280 crossing points along the Border, and Mr Aherne told The Anglo-Celt: “When you take away presence on the Border, you lose corporate knowledge. Some of the people in Army roles now, never worked the Border and have never been there.”
He pointed out that all the operational maps of the Border are still there. “They are now dusting off the old files, so that people can re-acquaint themselves with the Border.”
Since the Brexit vote, Mr Aherne is of the opinion that the Irish government has suppressed debate on the security issues, making it impossible to make credible preparations.
“Contingencies are not light switches – you can’t turn them on and off – contingencies are structured preparations,” said Mr Aherne.

No preparation
“No Government Department, other than Revenue, has made any preparation,” he contended.
Any so-called “Back Stop” agreed to the Brexit deal is furthermore “kicking the can” down the road.
“If it is going to be a longer term operation on the Border, the state needs to identifying potential locations for temporary premises along the Border. We only have two places left along the Border, Finner Camp in Donegal and Dundalk and the soldiers from those two places are meeting themselves coming back doing routine duties in Dublin, because there is not enough soldiers in Dublin.”