Government to buy €300m naval vessel while current ships tied up with issues

The Royal New Zealand Navy multi-role vessel HMNZS Canterbury. It is expected the new vessel targeted by the Department of Defence will be similar in style to this. File Picture: Kristopher Radder

The Department of Defence has confirmed it is to buy a multi-role vessel (MRV) for the navy, costing up to €300m, while ships of near that value are non-operational due to mechanical issues and personnel shortages.

Senator Gerard Craughwell has expressed “serious concern about investing in new hardware at this stage” when there are not the personnel to crew the ships we have.

At present, there is only one ship on operational patrol. The other three P60 class vessels capable of withstanding Atlantic weather conditions are tied up due to personnel shortages and mechanical issues.

These vessels have a combined value of around €210m.

Meanwhile, the two smaller P70 class vessels, purchased from the New Zealand navy for €26m, are not fully operational.

Mr Craughwell said that, while it is good to plan for the future, he thinks it would be better to use the money to invest in navy recruitment and retention.

I think there is no doubt that the Defence Forces will definitely require an [vessels] in the future

“However, at this time we should be concentrating more on addressing the failings in recruitment and retention. The priority must be to seek a serious improvement in personnel levels,” he said.

A multi-role vessel would be big enough to carry a large contingent of troops, be equipped with a helicopter pad, and small hospital onboard. It would be designed to be capable of launching amphibious and airborne landings.

Humanitarian emergencies

The purchase of such a vessel was first mooted by Enda Kenny when he was taoiseach, who said it would be deployed for humanitarian emergencies both at home and abroad.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Defence said it has appointed expert advisors to support the procurement of a multi-role vessel to replace the now decommissioned flagship, LÉ Eithne.

“A prior information notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Union in January (2024) to advise the market of the department’s intention to run a tender competition to procure a [vessel]. Work is currently underway that will inform next steps,” she said.

If the navy eventually gets a vessel, it will be the largest ship in its history.

If the navy eventually gets a multi-role vessel, it will be the largest ship in its history and would have a crew of up to 60 — which is far more than the P60 Atlantic-capable vessels, at just over 40, and the P70 vessels which can be crewed by just 20.