Lobbyists for international arms manufacturers organised a secret meeting with Department of Defence officials at a Dún Laoghaire hotel – and instructed attendees to maintain secrecy about it.
The Irish Defence and Security Association (IDSA), whose members include Lockheed Martin, arranged the private briefing with Department of Defence assistant secretary general Eamonn Murtagh at the Royal Marine Hotel in November 2024.
The lobbying group said in the invitation there would be “no advance publicity or social media promotion” of the meeting and told attendees not to forward details beyond fellow members of IDSA.
IDSA sent members a recent position paper that highlighted the need to “develop the nation's future defence industry strategy”.
The group told invitees the event would include a "facilitated group discussion" where attendees would "introduce their respective companies" and "share their perspectives in detail" with the Department of Defence and representatives from other state bodies and agencies.
Participants were also invited to a bar and lounge for further “closed-door” discussions afterwards.
‘An exceptional opportunity’
Irish Defence and Security Association director Caitríona Heinl told group members, in correspondence seen by The Ditch, about the association’s planned meeting.
She said IDSA agreed with the Department of Defence to invite state bodies and agencies – including IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Departments of Enterprise and Foreign Affairs.
These bodies and agencies, Heinl said, will likely "hold responsibility" for current and future industrial policy in defence.
The invitation outlined how IDSA, pointing to Ireland having “no defence industry strategy or industrial participation policy”, seeks clarity on industry's role in defence contracts as well as the development of policies to “determine when the government would indeed require industrial participation.”
Assistant secretary Murtagh was scheduled to brief IDSA members on the department's “recent restructuring” and its meaning for the defence and arms industry.
The invitation described the meeting as an opportunity to understand “the concrete meaning of governmental industrial participation policy”.
This “exceptional opportunity” was to be followed up by “closed door discussion” and “information exchange” by “membership and senior officials”.
An IDSA members’ schedule seen by The Ditch shows the November hotel briefing was part of a wider programme of private meetings between the arms industry lobbyists and state officials both during 2024 and scheduled for 2025.
The schedule included an annual meeting with Irish Defence Forces general staff held in December last year, sessions with defence attachés scheduled for this month and a February briefing about "US-Ireland defence trade agreement" and mapping the "US Department of Defense acquisition ecosystem".
A note to members said there would be opportunities to meet “visiting major international contractors and visiting defence and security officials”, adding these could occur “possibly at short notice and in person i.e. ‘face to face’''.
When asked about the secrecy of the meeting a Department of Defence spokesperson said, “Heretofore the Department of Defence has released records relating to meetings with the IDSA in accordance with FOI requests received. In addition, going forward it is the department’s intention to publish a minute of meetings between the IDSA and officials from the Department of Defence.
IDSA declined to comment.
