Navy enlists foreign recruits
A Pole and a Portuguese are set to join the 1,400-strong force when they pass out as ordinary seaman at the navy’s headquarters in Haulbowline, Co Cork.
Trzegorz Ciszek, 24, a Pole, and his 19-year-old Portuguese colleague, Fabio Conceicao, will be among 26 young men and women who will be honoured at the passing-out parade on February 7.
Both men have learnt some Irish, as it is the standard language used for issuing orders during parades. They have also sworn an oath of loyalty to the constitution.
Mr Ciszek, who has lived in Crosshaven, Co Cork, for the past three years, and who is engaged to a local woman, said he was proud to join the navy.
“Ireland has done many good things for me, so I am proud to reciprocate,” he said. He comes from Catowice in the south-west of Poland and his proud mother is flying over to attend the parade.
Mr Conceicao has also lived in Ireland for the past three years. He lives in Youghal with his family. “My grandfather and my father were in the Portuguese military, so I wanted to follow their military traditions by joining the Irish navy,” he said.
Poland has quite a large navy, boasting 50-plus vessels, including five submarines. The Portuguese navy is roughly the same size as Ireland’s, with eight vessels, although they do possess a submarine.
Naval service spokesman Lt Comdr Terry Ward said both men had fitted in very well with their classmates. “We expect even more people of foreign birth to join the navy. This only reflects the wider Irish community we have now,” he said.
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