Why doesn’t Ireland have a Space Force in it’s Military?

16 comments

1. I think there are more pressing needs.

2. People were upset when the government bought a new jet, can you imagine them proposing to fund a space force?

3. Enough absolute rockets in the country already? Idk.

4. It costs a lot of money, we are not (yet) in a position to spare funds for space stuff when thousands of people are still homeless, etc. etc.

5. Only about [20 countries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_forces,_units,_and_formations) actually have a space force. We’re not much of an outlier on that one.

   We also don’t even have fighter jets, or even main battle tanks. Military spending here isn’t anywhere near enough to justify having a branch of the military dedicated to conducting operations in outer space.

6. Not true. I know plenty of Space Cadets

7. We barely have a functioning military never mind adding another branch to it.

   If needed thought space related operations would probably handled by the air corps or in tandem with another country.

8. We barely have an air force covered and you want us to go to space? Let’s take things one step at a time

9. Let’s sort the football team out first. . Priorities and all that

10. We can barely even get lads up into the air with our Air Corps.

    How I’m God’s name do you expect us to launch some into space with even the flimsiest chance of ever coming back?

11. We actually have a Minister for Space, but the portfolio is bundled with a mixed bag of odds and ends like Sport, Tourism, Transport, The Gaeltacht, Arts & Heritage, Beaches, Your Man Down The Pub and Health.

    We would have had a fully operational Space Force back in 2017 but the Minister for Space and Minister for Defence got into a turf war over who had authority over it and hence it’s hefty budget. It’s been stuck in administrative limbo ever since with career civil servants from each department constantly finding ways to trip up the other side or just jam the process up in endless studies and committee hearings.

    There are 600 Irish space soldiers in a barracks in Baikonur Cosmodrome waiting for the last 5 years to be launched into orbit for basic training. Many of their partners were on Joe Duffy back in 2021 talking about how they’re waiting years to see them. The recruits aren’t allowed to leave the area because the launch could be any day. Some have started families with local people in that time and there’s even talk of a Baikonur under 12’s hurling team in a few years.

    I don’t think anyone thought it would take this long for the Irish Space Force to get going, but that’s bureaucracy for you.

12. Why on earth would we need our want one?

13. We had to cancel the turf powered rocket programme, the usual people whining about the bloody environment. It’s political correctness gone mad, I tell you.

14. We can’t even fix the bloody potholes

15. Its

16. We barely have an air force, never mind a space force.