THE Defence Forces are only able to put ONE SHIP to sea to protect our coastline from drug traffickers, illegal fishing, and foreign military warships entering Irish waters, it has emerged.
The security scandal was uncovered during a recent visit by the Dail Defence Committee to Naval HQ at the Haulbowline based in Cork.
The Navy also hasn’t adequate equipment to carry out underwater surveillance which makes it near impossible to monitor submarines or underground Atlantic data cables connecting Europe to other parts of the world.
The naval service has been decimated by personnel leaving due to the poor pay and long hours.
Sinn Fein Defence spokesman John Brady fumed; “Ireland possesses one of the largest maritime to land ratios within Europe with a maritime border of 1,315 km.
"At any point in recent times we have only been able to put one ship at sea, limiting our ability to ensure maritime security.
"Due to limitations in terms of personnel and subsurface surveillance, our ability to monitor what is happening to the continental data cables that go past our southern coast, is highly limited and is putting our security and the European project at risk.
'CONCERNING ACTIVITIES'
"Ships from other countries are coming into our waters carrying out what can only be described as concerning activities and all we can do is sit back and monitor."
He added: “We are not able to see what exactly is going on and that is a direct result of our inability to put ships to sea or see what is going on under the water.
"We have a responsibility for everything up in the air, at surface level and at subsurface level so our hands are seriously tied behind our back.”
The Defence Minister Simon Coveney admitted the Irish military has recruitment and retention challenges.
RECENT RECRUITMENT
A recent Navy recruitment campaign resulted in 78 new personnel being inducted including 65 recruits, eight cadets, three direct entry specialists and two rejoined listed personnel.
He stated; “I am not saying this solves the problem, because it does not. This is going to take time.“
The White Paper on Defence sets out an ambitious programme of capital investment in the Naval Service including the mid-life refit and upgrade of the P50 class of vessels, and the replacement of the flagship LE Eithne with a multi-role vessel.
Coveney added: “It is the Government’s intention that this new vessel will provide a flexible and adaptive capacity for a wide range of maritime tasks.
"I accept that our capacity for subsurface surveillance is somewhat limited.”
At the end of October the full strength of the Defence Forces was 8,572 military personnel - which is about 1,000 members short of what it needs.
HELP TO COME
The breakdown was Army at 6,946, Naval Service at 878 and Air Corps at 748. 601 in total are female.
Over the past year 541 personnel had left and 577 new members had joined.
The Minister said the ongoing recruitment and retention campaign will continue right through next year and that recent pay benefits from public sector wage deals will help.
However he couldn’t put an exact time on when the Defence Forces will be filled to full capacity.
Only a few months ago Russian ships and submarines were doing military exercises in the Atlantic off the Donegal coast after being spotted by fishermen.