Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 14 Dec 1999

Vol. 512 No. 6

Adjournment Debate Matters. - Naval Service Vessels.

Ms Fitzgerald

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to respond to this matter. I am conscious of the important day for the Naval Service tomorrow with the launch of the LE Roisin and wish everyone the best.

In recent weeks a survey has detected white asbestos in the machinery spaces in certain items, the engines, exhausts and manifold lagging, on four of the older vessels of the Naval Service fleet, the LE Deirdre, LE Emer, LE Aoife and LE Aishling. Obviously, as a matter of urgency, this asbestos must be removed from these ships. I ask the Minister to outline to the House how he believes the Naval Service will be able to maintain its duties on fisheries protection, drug interdiction and search and rescue when this number of current vessels will be out of service while the asbestos is removed from them.

The Naval Service on any island nation is vital on many fronts. The Naval Service of a nation on the periphery of a united Europe at the beginning of a new century is unique. The Naval Service has until now had seven vessels to patrol 132,000 square miles of water, 16 per cent of EU marine territory. This does not include Ireland's marine designated area which extends our economic interest to 260,000 square miles. The vessel concentration at present is one ship per 18,857 square miles or one ship per 32,142 square miles if the full marine designated area is considered. As we know, this compares most unfavourably with our EU neighbours. The Naval Service is clearly under-resourced for the tasks expected of it. It is a great shame that the PricewaterhouseCoopers report on the future of the Naval Service has not been implemented in full to date.

It is against this background that removal of the vessels from the service is akin in some ways to declaring a free for all in Irish waters for foreign fishermen and those attempting to import drugs illegally. It raises questions about the safety of the Irish fishing fleet at one of the most dangerous times of the year when the search and rescue capabilities of the Naval Service are traditionally in great demand. The recent storms have illustrated once again the vulnerability of many working on our seas. I pay tribute to the Naval Service for the work it does on an ongoing basis and the Air Corps, particularly in the area of search and rescue.

I would like the Minister to outline to the House what he believes the implications of this asbestos discovery are for the crews who have served on the affected vessels over the years and whether there are health implications? Will the current shortages limit patrolling of the seas and over what period of time? It is unfortunate that yet another difficulty has emerged at a time when there are severe difficulties facing the Naval Service. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say on the impact on service in the coming weeks and how quickly the Naval Service will be able to get back to the full protection work it has done so effectively in such difficult circumstances during the years.

Mr. Wall

I thank the Minister for taking this debate. Like Deputy Fitzgerald, I wish the Minister and the personnel in the Naval Service well tomorrow on what will be a great occasion, the launch of the new vessel.

The disclosure last week that more than half the fleet has been forced into port as a result of asbestos safety problems is the latest in a series of blows inflicted on the men and women of the Naval Service. Morale among personnel is already very low due to failure of the Government to deal with the fundamental problems facing the service. Even at the best of times, there have been problems keeping a sufficient number of vessels at sea. Earlier this year there were reports that ten personnel were leaving the service every month. The Government has failed to act on the recommendations of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report that there should be additional funding for the service and that staff numbers should be increased to 1,144.

In September the second most senior officer in the service, speaking on his retirement, said the service has been left waiting for Godot in relation to its future. He expressed serious disappointment at the Government's failure to accept in good faith the findings of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report and accused it of burying parts of the report it did not like. The fact such a senior officer felt it necessary to make such comments is an indication of the seriousness of the situation in the Naval Service.

It is not as if we do not understand the importance of the Naval Service in the three main roles it carries out on our behalf, fishery protection, anti-drug patrols and rescue operations. An estimated £2 billion worth of fish are caught in Irish waters by foreign vessels. Clashes between marauding foreign vessels and Irish trawlers are too common. We have one of the most vulnerable coastlines in Europe and the successes of the Naval Service and the customs in intercepting drug consignments is believed to represent only a fraction of what gets through.

Each time there is a storm and a fishing boat or merchant ship gets into trouble it is the Naval Service which is called to go to the rescue. Despite one of the largest territorial waters in the EU, we have one of the smallest naval services. One officer writing in An Cosantóir said that with just seven vessels, it is like the Garda trying to patrol the whole country with one patrol car.

Against this background it is inexcusable that a situation should have been allowed to develop which has seen more than half the fleet forced into port. I understand only three vessels are operational and only one has helicopter capacity and is capable of extended patrols. This means we are relying on a single vessel to patrol 400,000 square miles of sea. It is all the more surprising that this crisis should have arisen as a result of problems with asbestos. The danger of asbestos has been well known for decades.

For how long was the Department aware that asbestos had been used in the construction of these vessels and why was nothing done before now? Why were members of the Naval Service left vulnerable to exposure to asbestos? What steps were taken to protect members of the service and to determine if the health of Naval Service personnel has been damaged? What medical advice or assistance has been made available to them? Why was there not a planned withdrawal of vessels to allow the problem to be dealt with in a phased manner? Why has the situation been allowed to drift until we have reached a disastrous situation? Who is responsible for leaving our fishermen and coastlines virtually defenceless? This situation cannot be allowed to drift on. Measures must be taken to have the asbestos removed and the ships returned to sea as soon as possible, or the question of acquiring replacement vessels, even on a short-term basis, must be urgently considered.

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

I thank Deputies Fitzgerald and Wall for giving me the opportunity to set the record straight on this issue. The Naval Service continues to patrol while the issue of asbestos on four of the service's eight vessels is tackled as a matter of priority. The Air Corps also provides very valuable assistance to the fisheries enforcement regime by the use of the two CASA aircraft which to date this year have flown 217 patrols and recorded 5,800 sightings of fishing vessels. I will preside at the commission of the LE Roisin at the naval base tomorrow. This vessel will enhance considerably the effectiveness of the Naval Service in its fishery enforcement and other roles.

I would like to set the record straight on the PricewaterhouseCoopers review. When the review was completed I asked the Naval Service to provide me with its plan. I gave it three months and I expected to receive it in January 1999. I only received the plan a few weeks ago. It is not consistent, fair or truthful for Opposition Deputies to suggest there was a delay on my part when I gave the plan to the Naval Service to pro vide its own implementation plan, which I am considering and will implement without any great delay.

I want to emphasise that the matter of asbestos being found on certain Naval Service ships is being taken extremely seriously by me and my Department and everything will be done in line with health and safety requirements to resolve the issue and return the Naval Service ships to their duties as soon as possible. The asbestos problem came to light as a result of a survey of older vessels of the Naval Service fleet which it was decided to carry out on the return of a Naval Service officer from attendance at a recent environmental seminar organised by the Health and Safety Authority. A firm of environmental consultants, McAllister Devereux Keating, was appointed on 14 October 1999 and LE Deirdre was the first ship surveyed. The results of the survey became available on 12 November 1999 and showed that chrysotile, white asbestos, was detected in very small quantities in isolated machinery spaces on certain items, such as engine exhausts, heating pipes and manifold lagging. I emphasise that no asbestos was detected in the accommodation areas. Due to the high degree of commonality of equipment among the four ships of the offshore patrol vessel, or OPV, class it was suspected that similar results would be likely in the other three ships. Subsequent surveys of these ships –LE Emer, LE Aoife and LE Aisling– confirmed this to be the case.

On receipt of the results of the survey the consultants were further engaged to prepare a tender specification for the safe removal and disposal of all the hazardous material from the four ships. That specification was received by my Department on Tuesday last week and, by use of emergency tendering procedures, was immediately issued to four reputable contractors. The contractors were requested to view each of the four ships in Haulbowline in order to see at first hand the scope of the work. The viewing took place yesterday afternoon and the consultants were available to brief the four contractors in detail. The contractors are responding as quickly as possible to my Department's request for quotations and expect to be in a position to submit a tender price for the work involved within the next day or so at the latest. I hope to award a contract immediately for the carrying out of the work, or indeed a number of contracts if this would expedite the resolution of the matter.

Following yesterday's viewing of the ships by the contractors, it is estimated that it will take no more than two or three days per ship to remove the asbestos. I am informed that all the contractors are in a position to commence work immediately they receive clearance from the Health and Safety Authority. There is a legal requirement for contractors involved in the removal of such hazardous material to be cleared by the Health and Safety Authority and my Department is in contact with the authority in order to expedite this clearance.

I appreciate the Deputies' concern regarding the unavoidable curtailment of the ability of the Naval Service to undertake its fishery protection tasks to the fullest extent which has resulted from the withdrawal of the ships from service in order to clear the asbestos problem. However, patrol days lost have not been exclusively due to the asbestos problem, as three of the four ships now in port were brought in to undergo periods of maintenance which arise normally in the course of service. The effect of the asbestos problem on the availability of these ships for patrol to date is minimal. For example, Le Aisling returned to port on 4 December for maintenance which is due to continue until 17 December. I assure the Deputies of three things. First, that the health and safety of Naval Service personnel is paramount, second, that the necessary works to remove the asbestos will be carried out as a matter of urgency and, third, that these Naval Service ships will return to patrolling duties at the first opportunity. Rescheduling of existing resources will take place to ensure that an adequate level of coverage will continue until all ships resume normal operations. As I said, expert contractors have been on site to assess the extent of the remedial work needed and I expect that this will be under way very shortly.