World faces biggest security challenges since 1970s, Helen McEntee says

The world is facing its most serious security challenges since the 1970s, but globalisation and technology have made countries more vulnerable to economic and social shocks, Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said.

Speaking to the British-Irish Association in Oxford, McEntee compared the current period with the Cold War. The earlier era divided the world largely into two blocs, she said. Today, developments can spread physically or online, allowing the actions of large countries to produce a ripple effect, or even a tsunami effect, far away.

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We are again in a period of intense geopolitical competition. But there is an important difference. Then, the Cold War world was essentially split in two.

She pointed to grain shortages in Europe and across Africa following Russia's war on Ukraine. She also cited this summer's immigration riots in Northern Ireland, saying individuals and groups from outside the island had helped demonstrate how quickly security vulnerabilities can change.

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Disinformation spread like wildfire.

"Disinformation spread like wildfire," McEntee said, referring to AI-generated posters that caused confusion over whether roads, schools and public services would remain open. The resulting anxiety and disruption were especially dangerous in Northern Ireland, she said, where actors can exploit fears and divisions rooted in recent history.

McEntee also said last year's presidential election campaign had been used as a platform for division. She cited sectarian attacks against former Fine Gael colleague Heather Humphries, including online smears and misinformation about the Southern Protestant tradition. She said a hateful minority had amplified sectarianism on social media, but warned against treating that minority as representative.

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That adds to the challenge.

The minister said she hoped the government would decide before the end of the year whether Ireland should join the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force. Ireland's military neutrality rules out participation in offensive actions, but the government is exploring security cooperation, including protection against threats to undersea communication cables. The force also includes Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

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We might have hoped that we had left that kind of historically illiterate, dead-end sectarianism behind.