Ukraine has signed close to twenty joint defence production agreements with European partners, according to the Ukrainian Armor Council. Germany accounts for around a dozen, spanning drones and counter-UAS technology, and the Czech Republic, Finland, the UK, Denmark, Spain, France, Norway, Poland, Canada and the US have all formed joint ventures with Ukrainian firms. In July the EU and Ukraine launched a joint Drone Alliance building on nine existing bilateral agreements. Ireland doesn’t appear on any of these lists, and the reason sits in domestic legislation: Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland have operated since 1987 under a requirement to secure Government approval before engaging with any business of primarily military relevance.
The Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026, before the Oireachtas, removes that requirement and streamlines agency support for Defence, Security and Resilience (DSR) companies. Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke has described the provision being deleted as one written for an agency that no longer exists, and one that “has had a chilling effect on the work of our agencies in defence, security and resilience,” adding that “in a Europe investing heavily in cyber, satellites, maritime security and hybrid threat monitoring, Ireland cannot afford to have one hand tied behind its back,” while noting that export controls and ministerial oversight remain in place.
That category is wider than weapons manufacturing, which is where Ireland’s strongest opportunity sits. NATO held a workshop in January with Ukraine and several Nordic and Central European states on maintaining critical services under wartime conditions, and the same technology Ukraine has developed for the battlefield applies directly to search and rescue, disaster response, and protecting energy grids and subsea infrastructure, an area where Ireland has its own exposure.
There are four further prerequisites Government has yet to build, including a security clearance system and an export control framework, without which the agencies cannot act on their new freedom. Ireland now starts where Germany and Poland already were: navigating the practical, company-level friction RAND Europe identifies as the real barrier to EU-Ukraine cooperation, a layer Ireland hasn’t reached because the approval requirement gave its agencies little reason to build these relationships.
Ireland’s political goodwill towards Ukraine has yet to support Irish or Ukrainian industry. Fellow Member States have already captured joint ventures and market positions, building trade contacts and supporting their agencies. Ireland has the companies and the legislative opening; what it lacks is follow-through, and every month that gap persists, Irish industry falls further behind its European counterparts. Government needs to move from removing the approval requirement to actively backing Irish industry, through trade missions, funded matchmaking, and a clear mandate for its agencies to prioritise Ukrainian engagement. Government now has the chance to back Irish industry into one of the most innovative environments anywhere, and extend Ireland’s support for Ukraine’s resistance beyond the humanitarian, and into the industrial.
