EU defence commissioner drawing up plans to protect transatlantic undersea cables

The LÉ James Joyce passing Roches Point in Cork Harbour. The Irish naval service is currently only able to send out one vessel on patrol at any time and still has not been equipped with sonar which could detect the activities of submersibles underwater. File picture: Eddie O'Hare

The EU’s first defence commissioner is drawing up plans to protect vital transatlantic undersea cables — and following a warning that Ireland does not have the resources to adequately protect them — he has been asked into talks to draft in European and British navies to help do the job.

That is according to the leader of Fine Gael in the European Parliament, MEP Seán Kelly, who says he has already discussed the need for such moves with the EU’s newly-appointed defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilius.

The latter is drawing up proposals to protect the vital cables which carry millions of transactions daily between North America and Europe.

The Irish naval service is currently only able to send out one vessel on patrol at any time and still has not been equipped with sonar which could detect the activities of submersibles underwater and therefore possible threats to sabotage the vital infrastructure.

About 75% of all such transatlantic cables pass through Ireland’s Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) waters.

“I have raised this issue [of Ireland’s lack of sea defence capacity] with Commissioner Kubilius and he is well aware of it," Mr Kelly said.

MEP Seán Kelly said he has raised this issue of Ireland’s lack of sea defence capacity with EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius.

"He will be coming forward with proposals. The immense size of our EEZ means that monitoring it [and the undersea cables] needs to include more than just us as we can’t do it on our own in the face of mounting security threats."

Last November, Russian spy ship Yantar "blatantly ignored" hailing from a navy ship to leave Irish designated EEZ waters.

When it entered the waters on November 14, the Irish Examiner understands it was hailed almost immediately to leave the area by the LÉ James Joyce.

However, the Yantar, which the Russians describe as a "research vessel", refused to budge and stayed in its position in the Irish Sea until finally moving off in the early hours of the following morning.

This is not the first time Yantar has done this. 

In 2021 the Defence Forces officers’ association Raco highlighted that the vessel had been hovering over transatlantic subsea cables for several days off the west coast and may have launched submersibles capable of attaching explosives to them.

Such explosives can be activated from the air by Tupolev Tu-95 ‘Bear Bombers’, which regularly run exercises off the Irish coast.

Also, the Irish Examiner revealed that in 2023 a Russian submarine was detected directly outside the entrance to Cork Harbour and had to be "chased off" by a British helicopter which dropped sonar into the water, and then by the appearance of a Royal Navy warship. 

We did not have the resources to do this.

It is believed that the Russians — who deliberately stayed just outside the edge of our sovereign 12-mile limit — did it to test our responses and collaboration with the British as part of their "war gaming" exercises.

Mr Kelly said that rather than waiting for the outcome of Mr Kubilius’s plan, the Government should now actively engage with him to get a proper “coordinated” EU response to the threats to the undersea cables.

He said they also include vital subsea energy cables, such as the €1bn Celtic Interconnector between France and Ireland which is under construction.

“These cables are strategic assets, and any disruption would have catastrophic consequences for Ireland, Europe, and the world,” he added.