Ireland has 'acute' national security problem, conference hears

Prof Ben Tonra says Irish universities, ‘desperate for income, desperate to pay salaries and keep the lights on’, are becoming a small export industry looking to China. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh Ireland has an "acute" national security problem in respect of authoritarian states such as Russia and China but refuses to confront it, a conference on Ireland's relationship with China heard on Thursday. Because Ireland had no system for national security clearance, Irish universities had not been able to take part in joint bids for EU funding in respect of projects in the security and defence realm, and Irish academics had…