asked the Minister for Defence the equipment which is available to the Naval Service for detecting the movement of submerged submarines within Irish territorial waters and surrounding sea areas; the proposals, if any, there are to provide additional equipment to enable the monitoring of submarines; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Submerged Submarines.
7.
The Naval Service vessels are fitted with appropriate equipment for the task of surveillance of Irish territorial waters. In the interests of security it would be contrary to established practice to furnish information regarding the proposed acquisition of equipment of this nature.
The review of defensive equipment is an ongoing activity in my Department.
I am sure the Minister is aware it has been estimated in our daily papers that there are in excess of 100 trips in any one year of submarines armed with nuclear missiles from Holy Lock. Can the Minister give an assurance that none of these submarines is entering Irish territorial waters?
The detection of submerged submarines remains a most difficult problem for naval forces, even for those countries with very large modern navies. To achieve even moderate success calls for the provision of a very large variety of expensive equipment. For example, in order to monitor Soviet submarine activity in the waters adjacent to the US, the US have installed very large fixed sonar installations on the seabed of its continental shelf. These installations are connected to shore stations by cable and can achieve very long range detection of submarines. In addition, the US Navy have developed sophisticated sonar equipment for their warships which permits reasonably long range detection of hostile submarines. Such large navies also operate long range anti-submarine aircraft which can detect submerged submarines from the air. The Naval Service is not so equipped. Even Sweden, another neutral State, has been unable to cope with the problem of Soviet submarine incursions into their internal waters despite their considerable expenditure on ships and equipment.
The question I asked the Minister was whether he could give an assurance that, to the best of his knowledge, no submarine was entering Irish territorial waters, whether British, American, Soviet or otherwise.
I would remind the Deputy that it would be virtually impossible to give such an assurance. I would also remind him that the cost of equipping and manning the Naval Service and Air Corps to carry out an adequate level of surveillance of submarine activity in our offshore waters would be enormous and beyond our resources.
Ceist 8.
May I ask the Minister——
Can I have finality on this question.
In view of the difficulties and expenses which the Minister has indicated would be involved in tracking such submarines, will he say whether he has had negotiations or discussions with any of the other countries involved, whose submarines are acknowledged to be using the Irish Sea, to have such traffic stopped?
I do not have that information. I will be glad to communicate with the Deputy.
Is the Minister of State aware that with the objective of ensuring that damage to the trawlers in the Irish Sea did not occur, the previous administration took steps to contact all States whose submarines might use the Irish Sea and undertook to have this raised at the first meeting of the maritime institution which is to be held next November, so that international laws could be drawn up to see that submarines did not damage fishing boats or did not sail into territorial waters? Will the Minister confirm that is the case?
I assure the former Minister for Foreign Affairs that every possible step will be taken to ensure that that will be the situation.
The question basically has been answered but further to the information imparted by the former Minister, is it the intention of the Government to pursue, particularly with our neigh-bouring states, the policy of ensuring that our territorial waters are not violated?
Yes.