Is this country prepared for threats posed by Russia to our national security? These are real threats to the country and must be taken seriously. There was an increase in Russian shadow fleet activity in Irish-controlled waters last week. There were three ships, in fact. Our geography no longer protects us as it once did. We are very dependent on other countries to support us regarding maritime and air defences. We need to take steps to move away from these dependencies. This will help our independence. It will also support and foster our neutrality. We live in a rapidly changing world and we must respond to these changes in order to protect our way of life and democracy, which we value so much.

Sentiment score: 0.17