The Naval Service has only been able to put one ship out on sea patrols for the past month due to a combination of mechanical issues and a lack of specialist personnel.
The Irish Examiner has also learned that a shortage of expert technicians has, in part, delayed the deployment of two smaller vessels, costing €26m, which arrived from New Zealand last May and are unlikely to become operational until this winter.
The crewing crisis has meant no decision has yet been made on whether a vessel will again be deployed to the EU IRINI mission in the Mediterranean Sea this summer. That mission aims to enforce an oil export embargo from Libya and prevent gun-running into the same country.
In response to queries on the availability of just one vessel to patrol one million square kilometres of our Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ), the Defence Forces said it “does not give specifics on operational units nor their movements, for operational security reasons”.
“The Defence Forces also does not offer comment on personnel movements, for similar reasons,” it said. The Irish Examiner understands that the one ship which was on sea patrol was only able to maintain that by swapping a crew from a second vessel which hasn’t been operational.
It is believed another ship has, or is about to, go back on patrol resulting in two vessels being at sea, still a far cry from around a decade ago when there were up to eight ships operational.
Former senior naval officers say this is the lowest point in operations the seagoing force has faced since the late 1960s/early 1970s and that was when the country didn’t have the massive EEZ it is now supposed to patrol.
On top of carrying out routine patrols in the EEZ, the Naval Service is also tasked with detaining trawlers for illegal fishing, intercepting drug shipments and monitoring Russian vessels amid concerns they might cut vital transatlantic cables carrying millions of daily financial transactions between North America and Europe.
The government has just signed a five-year deal, the value of which has not been disclosed, with Finnish company Wärtsilä to take over the maintenance of ships, thus filling the void caused by the lack of navy specialists.
In response to the contract signing, a Defence Forces spokesman said the Naval Service will only send ships to sea when they’re satisfied the ships are in a seaworthy and safe condition.
