Ireland to rely on foreign navies for undersea threat detection until 2027, says Tánaiste
Bridge of the vessel P71 Le Aoibhinn. Picture: Larry Cummins
Ireland will have to continue until at least July 2027 to rely on ‘friendly’ foreign navies to detect underwater threats off our coast from Russian spy ships and submarines.
Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris has said he expects contract negotiations for the supply of advanced sonar technology to conclude in the coming months. However, the first sonar system is not expected to be delivered until July 2027.
Irish navy ships were equipped with the technology up until the mid-1980s. However, when it was in need of upgrading or replacing, the Department of Defence at the time decided this was too expensive.
Sonar is the only way the Navy can get a picture of underwater threats, especially to critically important subsea cables which carry millions of financial and other data transactions between Europe and North America.
About 75% of all transatlantic cables pass through Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In total, our EEZ covers 220 million acres (880,000 km²) — around ten times the size of our landmass.
The Russians have repeatedly sent so-called spy ships, such as Yantar, to the cable areas.
It is believed that such ships deploy submersibles that have been mapping the cables’ coordinates and could potentially plant explosives that might be triggered in the event of a major war — severely hampering allied communications and economies. However, none have been discovered to date.
The British, French, NATO, and occasionally the US Navy have been monitoring Russian activity in our EEZ.
Two years ago, the exclusively revealed that a Russian submarine surfaced just outside the entrance to Cork Harbour.
Because the Irish Navy had no sonar, it was unable to monitor the submarine’s movements underwater. A British helicopter soon arrived and deployed sonar into the sea to track it. Shortly afterwards, a Royal Navy warship helped drive it away.
The submarine surfaced just outside Ireland’s 12-nautical-mile sovereign waters limit. It is now believed that the submarine’s commander knew the Naval Service had no undersea tracking capability and was waiting for a British response as part of war gaming, while also testing the level of military cooperation between Ireland and the UK.
Meanwhile, Mr Harris has responded to a Dáil question from Fianna Fáil Cork South-Central TD Seamus McGrath by revealing that the current strength of the Navy is 745 personnel — far short of the minimum 1,094 required to run the force.
He said 97 personnel were inducted into the Navy last year. These included 80 enlisted members, 13 officers, and two former members who had previously left the service but decided to re-enlist.
The Navy has been working hard to recruit experienced specialists from the private sector. However, it only managed to attract one chef and one engine room fitter—skilled roles the service is critically short of.
Mr Harris said three Atlantic-capable P60-class vessels are currently available for operations, but they conduct patrols on a rotation basis — usually just one at a time.
In addition, a smaller ship, LÉ Aoibhinn, purchased from New Zealand, is currently on duty. However, it is not robust enough for Atlantic patrols and primarily operates close to the coastline in the Irish Sea.
He did not comment when asked about when her sister ship, LÉ Gobnait, might become operational.
