Cancelled navy patrols treble this year

At the beginning of this year, the Naval Service was forced to take two of its ships off operations due to outbreaks of Covid-19. File picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

The number of cancelled patrol days from the Irish Naval Service in the first 10 months of this year is almost three times the number of cancelled days for all of 2020.

Figures released by the Department of Defence show there were 223 cancelled patrol days between January 1 and October 31, with an average of 22.3 cancelled days a month.

This compares to 81 in the whole of 2020, an average of 6.7 a month. In 2019, there were 94 cancelled patrol days, an average of 7.8 a month.

The Naval Service is tasked with providing a fishery protection service, under Ireland’s obligations as a member of the European Union. It also patrols all Irish waters from the shoreline to the outer limits of the exclusive economic zone, roughly 200 miles off Irish coasts.

In response to a parliamentary question, Defence Minister Simon Coveney said the increase in cancelled patrol days was mainly due to issues related to Covid-19.

“LÉ Ciara could not go to sea given its inability, due to its size, to implement safely the necessary Covid-19 precautions,” he said.

Mr Coveney said there were also some “unforeseen mechanical issues”.

“In particular, 47 scheduled patrol days were cancelled in 2021 due to a fire which occurred on board LÉ Niamh in late 2020,” he said. “A shortage of suitably qualified and experienced personnel during the period in question was also a factor.” 

At the beginning of this year, the Naval Service was forced to take two of its ships off operations due to outbreaks of Covid-19.

In October 2020, a fire broke out on LÉ Niamh while she was undergoing routine maintenance at Cork Dockyard, Rushbrooke.

Mr Coveney added he was satisfied the Naval Service continues to carry out the roles assigned by Government.

It follows warnings from commissioned officers earlier this week, who said the Naval Service was “living on borrowed time”, with just 709 fully-trained people left.

Sources within Raco (Representative Association of Commissioned Officer) told the Irish Examiner that one ship, LÉ William Butler Yeats, didn't go on sea patrol on Monday because it was short a technical specialist.

Sources said such occurrences have become far more commonplace and officers fear this trend will accelerate because of an acute shortage of specialists across a number of areas.

The Naval Service's minimum strength is supposed to be 1,094 fully-trained personnel.

There are supposed to be 19 lieutenant marine engineers, but there are just nine left, sources said.

The Naval Service is also said to be critically short of communications operatives, fitters, medics and chefs.