Sir, – Concerning Senator Michael McDowell’s article (“Ireland hopelessly undefended as threats multiply,” Opinion, August 26th), I wonder if, perhaps, our much-respected Irish commentariat spends much more time pondering and speculating about the Russian military strategic threat to Ireland than Russia’s senior military leadership thinks about launching a military attack on nominally neutral Ireland.Certainly, Russian strategic military analysts will not lack for self-revealing articles on how easily exposed Ireland is to attack by Russia. We must, by now, have gained the attention of the Russian generals.Our vivid human imaginations allow us to concoct a variety of imaginary scenarios: Russian paratroopers in occupation of Shannon Airport, a kinetic military attack on Whiddy Island to destroy Ireland’s national oil reserve and now the possibility of an attack by Russia on the Moffat pipeline. Who would have thought that Ireland loomed so large in Russian strategic military analysis? That said, perhaps Russia really does consider Ireland the vital, necessary and “sine qua non” key to the military conquest and occupation of western Europe. Who knows? Perhaps, it is our peripheral and far distant location, not more proximate and logistically easier targets, that so attracts Russia?If we are worried about the Russian bear’s hungry appetite for the honeypot of Ireland, perhaps we might be better served by making it our national mission and priority to accelerate Ireland’s achievement of 100 per cent of its energy production in Ireland from renewable energy sources – thereby eliminating Ireland’s dependence upon precarious and highly exposed energy supplies from abroad.More controversially, we might look at whether Ireland should continue to turn a blind eye to the US military use of Shannon Airport and seek to achieve real military neutrality, not nominal military neutrality.It seems to me it seems there is an argument to be made that, instead of diverting a massive proportion of our economic resources to military defence against Russia, we might be better off “lying flat”, by reducing our attractiveness as a military target for Russia, so minimising our external risk profile. Getting involved in the design and manufacture of military armaments, and actively participating in Nato, do not seem to be courses of action that would effectively minimise Ireland’s risk profile with Russia. – Yours, etc,ANTHONY LAYNG,Ringsend Road,Dunlin 4.Sir, – As a former member of the Defence Forces (Permanent and Reserve), I wish to congratulate Michael McDowell on his excellent article. He outlines in great detail Ireland’s hopelessly undefended position as threats to its security multiply. He calls for Government action to address the crisis by restoring the Defence Forces to an operational level. As a first step, he proposes the appointment of a (full) Minister for Defence. I would also suggest that the concept of Ireland as a neutral country be addressed. To seriously deal with the military threats facing Europe, neutrality and all that it entails must be abandoned. – Yours, etc,JOE FALLON,Taylor’s Hill,Galway city.