Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 21 Apr 1998

Vol. 489 No. 6

Written Answers. - Naval Service Fleet.

Bernard Allen

Question:

235 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Defence the number of naval ships operating fishery protection; the name of the ships involved; the number of days each ship spent at sea in each of the years 1995 to date; the number of boardings each ship made per year; and the average boarding per day of the naval vessels. [8823/98]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

At present the Naval Service is equipped with a total of seven vessels comprising one helicopter carrying vessel, four off shore patrol vessels and two coastal patrol vessels, as follows: le Eithne, le Aisling, le Aoife, le Emer, le Deirdre, le Orla and le Ciara. At present six vessels are operational and le Orla is undergoing refit.

The following are the details sought concerning the number of days spent at sea and the number of boardings.

	1995	1996	1997	1998 (to 31/3)
	Days on Patrol	Boardings	Days on Patrol	Boardings	Days on Patrol	Boardings	Days on Patrol	Boardings
LE Eithne	184	176	184	122	172	102	38	48
LE Aisling	180	172	181	156	123	217	31	31
LE Aoife	178	142	124	170	100	68	46	46
LE Emer	144	56	151	253	174	171	27	69
LE Deirdre	172	163	179	155	178	186	48	103
LE Orla	142	73	160	98	161	107	26	12
LE Ciara	147	154	152	250	169	201	52	64
Total	1,144	936	1,131	1,204	1,077	1,053	268	373
Average boarding per patrol day by the Naval Fleet		0.82		1.06		0.98		1.39