Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 February 2015
6. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Defence if home ports have been assigned by the Defence Forces to the new Naval Service vessels which have been acquired by the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6799/15]
View answerThis question relates to the recent decommissioning of LE Aoife in Waterford Port and the tradition of establishing a connection between Naval Service vessels and their home ports. I know the Department of Defence and the military have plans for further fleet refurbishment and replacement. Can the Minister provide an update on the work being done on the assignment of home ports, which is a long-established tradition within the Naval Service?
It is normal practice for the Minister for Defence to approve the twinning of a Naval Service vessel with a coastal city or town when the vessel is commissioned and has come into service. While no protocols for twinning are set down, the relationship between the town or city that was twinned with a recently decommissioned Naval Service vessel is traditionally maintained by twinning the newly constructed vessel with that location. For example, LE Samuel Beckett was commissioned in May 2014 and was subsequently twinned with Cork, which was also the twinning port of the vessel it replaced, LE Emer. I understand that cities and towns greatly value this twinning arrangement. This was very apparent in the wonderful decommissioning ceremony that took place in Waterford last month for LE Aoife. Every effort is being made to have a wide geographical spread of twinning locations that have a strong maritime tradition and strong links with the Naval Service. Unfortunately, given the number of ships we have it is possible to have this arrangement with a limited number of locations only. The Deputy might be interested to know that at present, LE Eithne is twinned with Dún Laoghaire, LE Niamh is twinned with Limerick, LE Róisín is twinned with Dublin, LE Aisling is twinned with Galway, LE Aoife was twinned with Waterford before it was decommissioned recently, LE Ciara is twinned with Kinsale, LE Orla is twinned with Dingle and LE Samuel Beckett, which is the newest addition to the Naval fleet, is twinned with Cork. When the LE Aoife is replaced with the LE James Joyce in the near future, we will have to make a decision on what city that ship will be twinned with.
Can I make a pitch for my own home port of Foynes in County Limerick to be considered when the LE James Joyce is commissioned? As the Minister is aware, Foynes was the first location in Ireland to provide an aviation base in the north Atlantic. It has a long tradition. During the First World War, the royal navy's north Atlantic fleet was tied up in Foynes for a period of time. There is a long tradition there. One of the few maritime museums in the country is based there. It is one of the deepest, if not the deepest, ports in the country. It has provided shelter and welcoming hospitality to members of the Naval Service for a long number of years. The Naval Service has a long tradition of attending festivals and other events that are organised in Foynes. Over recent years, the Shannon Estuary has shown itself to be of strategic national importance. Foynes is designated as a port of strategic national importance. The LE James Joyce is coming on stream and is due to be commissioned in the near future. I ask the Minister to consider the strategic national port of Foynes. I understand it has not been a home port to any Naval Service vessel in the past.
I know Foynes very well. As the Deputy said, it is a tier 1 port in Ireland. It is one of the finest natural deep water ports and harbours in Europe. In the past week, I was glad to hear the announcement of a significant investment programme for Foynes. I think it is worth approximately €50 million. The ambitious and talented management team that is managing Foynes Port has big plans for the future development of the port. This is welcome and is very much consistent with Ireland's new ambition of building a bigger and stronger marine economy.
Foynes will be a major part of that, as will other ports.
On the issue of whether we will be able to twin new ship with Foynes, it might be difficult but I will consider it. Since LE Niamh is twinned with Limerick and we need to achieve a broad geographical spread, as best we can, we are trying to ensure the whole coastline is covered. I suspect there will be a very strong claim from Waterford. We will consider what the Deputy has asked for but I do not want to decide today.
In the first part of the Minister's response, he gave a very good reason as to why Foynes should be considered. As he outlined, it is probably one of the premier ports in the country and certainly the most welcoming. I understand the predicament the Minister is in but I urge him to consider the proposal. I acknowledge it is very close to the bottom in the pecking order of the Department of Defence but, in terms of relations between the Department, the wider community and the people who are on the seas day in, day out, it would make a very strong statement if a port of this importance had a direct connection to the Department of Defence.
On the pecking order, Foynes is certainly not close to the bottom.
I did not say that.
I refer to the priority list. The Deputy has raised with me many times issues associated with Foynes. He prioritises the port and is right to do so. Partly because of the political prioritisation of Foynes, we are seeing many quite exciting developments there. When making twinning decisions, I must obviously take into account the proximity of cities and ports that do not have a twinned ship to the nearest ports with twinned ships. We will try to take into account all these considerations and I will certainly take on board what the Deputy said.
