Sorca Clarke
Question:214. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Defence the initial outlay for each of the nine ships in the Naval Service. [36915/21]
View answerThursday, 8 July 2021
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The Naval Service is the State's principal sea-going agency and is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. The main day-to-day role of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with the State's obligations as a member of the European Union. On any given patrol day the Naval Service can carry out a number of taskings on behalf of other State agencies such as the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, An Garda Síochána and the Customs Service of the Revenue Commissioners.
The initial outlay cost of a Naval Service vessel depends on several factors, including the date that it was built and the specification and type of vessel. The service life of a Naval Service vessel is generally in the region of 30 years and is determined by the level of the ship's operational activity. Details are provided below for the different classes of vessels within the Naval Service fleet of 9 ships, including ship names and the approximate initial outlay for that class of vessel.
P31 LE Eithne: Cost approximately £25 million, commissioned in 1984.
P41 LÉ Orla, P42 LÉ Ciara: Cost approximately £Stg8 million in total for both ships. Both were purchased in 1988 at which point they had 3 to 4 years service with the Royal Navy.
P51 LÉ Róisín, P52 LÉ Niamh: Cost approximately €50 million in total for both ships, commissioned in 1999 and 2001 respectively.
P61 LÉ Samuel Beckett, P62 LÉ James Joyce, P63 LÉ William Butler Years, P64 LÉ George B Shaw: Cost approximately €250 million in total for the four ships, commissioned in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019 respectively.
The replacement of the flagship LÉ Eithne with a multi-role vessel, MRV, is the immediate project currently under way. The MRV project is an important capability development project and indicative of the commitment to ongoing investment in and development of defence capabilities. It is intended to hold a public tender competition in due course to cover the supply of the MRV, subject to availability of funding within the overall defence capital funding envelope. Projects for other vessel replacements will be considered over the lifetime of the White Paper on Defence in the context of overall capability development and funding, and in accordance with the overall equipment development planning process.