asked the Minister for Defence if it will be possible to make use of Bere Island as a training place for naval personnel and for Maritime Inscription.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Naval Centre at Bere Island.
It would be possible to make use of Bere Island as a training place for naval personnel but the necessity does not arise. The cost of reopening and re-equipping the buildings at Bere Island and, in addition, providing a ferry service from the island to the mainland would be high and could not be justified for the few months during which the recruit training on land is being carried out. Training facilities are available at Haulbowline and to a limited extent, at Spike Island, for the training of naval personnel.
Personnel of An Slua Muirí are trained in their local areas in the same manner as the F.C.A. There are no members of An Slua Muirí in Castletown Bere area, so that the question of training them at Bere Island does not arise.