Irish navy is now at two thirds of its full strength 

As well as the hiring crisis, the Naval Service is short of vessels, with its latest P70 craft, the LÉ Aoibhinn and LÉ Gobnait, still not operational and with no timeline to equip them with sonar. Picture: Gerard McCarthy 

The strength of the Naval Service has shrunk to just over 700 personnel while it is still operating with just one ship capable of patrolling Atlantic waters.

The Defence Forces said the latest available information on its strength, as of April 30, was 718 whole-time equivalents.

The navy should have a minimum of 1,094 personnel and recruitment is still not keeping pace with the numbers leaving.

The Defence Forces has not confirmed when its tied-up P60 class vessels, capable of Atlantic patrols, will go back into service but said two smaller P70 class vessels, which were purchased from New Zealand’s navy at a cost of €26m, are “undergoing a phased introduction to Maritime Defence and Security Operations”.

A spokesman added that the next step is achieving “initial operating capability” before they can be put on active duties.

The LÉ Aoibhinn and its sister ship, LÉ Gobnait, are too small to carry out Atlantic patrols and are designed primarily for fishery protection in the Irish Sea.

The Defences Forces said that increased recruitment and the stabilisation of personnel numbers will be required before the navy will be able to ensure LÉ Gobnait becomes operational.

There is also still no timeline for when the navy might be equipped with vital undersea awareness capabilities, such as sonar.

The lack of this equipment was highlighted after a Russian submarine surfaced just outside Cork Harbour last year.

Irish naval ships are not capable of tracking such subs, so the British were forced to intervene. They sent in a helicopter to drop sonar into the water and this was followed by the arrival of a Royal Navy anti-submarine frigate which monitored the Russian sub until it left the area.

The Russian submarine was spotted just off Ireland’s 12-nautical mile territorial waters limit.

Nearly all Irish navy ships had sonar capability between the 1960s and 1980s. The former flagship LÉ Eithne possessed such technology into the 1990s when it became outdated, and it was decided by the government it was too expensive to replace.

The Defence Forces said a civilian/military working group has been established to advance a program for subsea awareness capabilities.

It said this group is concluding a key stage, the needs phase, which outlines the rationale and justification for reintroducing such capability and identifies and appraises potential solutions.