Navy ships locked down on asbestos fear

Two naval service ships are in lockdown after workers were exposed to asbestos during routine maintenance at dockyards in Cork.

Meanwhile, an investigation is being carried out by navy chiefs into how outside consultants declared the ships to be asbestos-free when they carried out a survey on them 14 years ago.

It emerged that the alarm was raised early last week when routine maintenance was carried out on the LÉ Orla in Verolme dockyard, Cobh.