Cork believed to have lost out on floating museum to Dublin Port

The LÉ Eithne got a blue light send-off at the Port of Cork as operation Fortitude — part of Ireland's response to the coronavirus pandemic — comes to the end and the ship returns to the naval base at Haulbowline. Picture: Dan Linehan

Cork looks to have lost out on getting the navy’s former flagship as a floating museum as the Department of Defence has said it is in talks with Dublin Port which wants the vessel for the same purpose.

Cork County Council had sought to get hold of ex-flagship, LÉ Eithne, after she was decommissioned some months ago.

An approach was made by the local authority to the Department of Defence after Passage West Independent councillor Marcia D'Alton won unanimous support from colleagues. She wanted it to be turned into a floating museum as it was the last Irish navy ship to be built in Cork.

However, the Department of Defence has confirmed that “consultations are ongoing with Dublin Port” which previously made representations to former Minister for Defence Simon Coveney “regarding the donating of LÉ Eithne for use as a tourist attraction/museum piece”. 

Meanwhile, the Department of Defence is putting out an EU tender seeking expressions of interest from companies which can dispose of two other decommissioned ships in an environmentally friendly way.

The department wants to dispose of LÉ Ciara and LÉ Orla “by safe and environmentally sound recycling methods”.

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A department spokesman said the process will involve running a public tender competition to select an EU-approved facility “to recycle the vessels in accordance with the European Union's Ship Recycling Regulation”. The spokesman said work on this tender process is now underway.

“This option is considered to be the most efficient and effective manner to dispose of those ships post-decommissioning and ensure that the ships can be taken out of the naval service base in Haulbowline at the earliest opportunity,” the spokesman added.

The decision to scrap them for recycling them rather than auction them off is likely to have arisen due to two previous incidents which proved somewhat embarrassing, one of was entirely no fault of the Government.

One former ship, LÉ Aoife, was gifted to the Maltese, but some of that island’s former navy bosses described it as junk when it arrived in 2015. 

A couple of years later another vessel, LÉ Aisling, which was auctioned off, ended up eventually in the hands of a Libyan warlord.

An early picture of the LÉ Aisling after she had come into service.

The ship, which had its armaments stripped, was initially purchased by a Dutch company for the knockdown price of €110,000. It sold it off for more than four times that to another company based in the United Arab Emirates. It was then passed onto Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, who bought it for a reputed €1.3m.

LÉ Ciara and LÉ Orla and to be replaced by two inshore patrol vessels which have been purchased for €26m from the New Zealand government.

“Work is being carried out in New Zealand to restore the vessels to Lloyds Classification and to fit naval service equipment,” the Department of Defence spokesman said.

“Naval service personnel have travelled to New Zealand to inspect the vessels and oversee the works and further Naval Service personnel will travel to NZ prior to delivery to oversee works and avail of familiarisation and training on the vessels.” 

It is expected they will be transported to Ireland this summer.