Defence in ‘Yes Minister’ style claims
Last July, Minister with Responsibility for Defence, Paul Kehoe, secured Dáil approval for the redeployment of the Naval Service from the purely humanitarian migrant rescue mission Operation Pontus to the more aggressive anti-people smuggler Operation Sophia.
Amid much fanfare it was announced that this switch-over was likely to take place while LÉ William Butler Yeats was on its current tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea. However, the Department of Defence has now said that the transfer will take place ‘at an appropriate juncture,’ having admitted that two months on the necessary preparatory work required for the change-over hasn’t been completed.
