'It is a very proud day for me' - Latest recruits bring multi-lingual air to Haulbowline

The recruits raised more than €3,000 for the Irish Cancer Society by running a combined 834kms over 24 hours.

Naval recruits in the passing out parade at Haulbowline naval base yesterday. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

The Naval Service may be short of personnel, but it has been boosted with a host of newly-qualified ‘multi-lingual’ sailors who can speak Hungarian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Russian and Lithuanian.

In what’s believed to be a first, a Hungarian officer’s uniform was seen in Haulbowline, Co. Cork, when Colonel Geza Gulyás came to honour his son Gézna’s entrance into the Naval Service as one of 11 newly qualified recruits.