Holly Cairns
Question:446. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Defence the number of days that naval vessels were engaged in patrolling activities annually between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2021. [11458/22]
View answerTuesday, 1 March 2022
Questions (446)
Written answers
The Naval Service is the State's principal sea-going agency and is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. The primary day-to-day tasking 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. In terms of fishery protection, the Naval Service is tasked with patrolling all Irish waters from the shoreline to the outer limits of the EEZ. The Naval Service also carry out a number of other non-fishery related tasks in tandem with maritime surveillance, and as such any Naval Service patrol should be viewed as a multifaceted activity.
The number of Fishery Patrol and Non-Fishery Patrol days completed from 2016 to 2021 are detailed below:
|
Year |
Fishery patrol days |
Non-Fishery patrol days |
Total Patrol days |
|
2016 |
1068 |
308 |
1376 |
|
2017 |
1091 |
317 |
1408 |
|
2018 |
1076 |
221 |
1297 |
|
2019 |
1036 |
25 |
1061 |
|
2020 |
781 |
226 |
1007 |
|
2021 |
766 |
66 |
832 |
Scheduled patrol days can be impacted by a range of factors including adverse weather conditions and unscheduled maintenance, as well as staffing issues.
At any one time the Naval Service can have a number of ships that are on active operations around the Irish EEZ whilst a number of others are undergoing routine resupply, maintenance and down time for ships companies. The high level of non-fisheries patrol days 2016-2018 can largely be attributed to the Naval Service's participation in Operations Pontus and Sophia in the Mediterranean during these years.
In July 2019, the Naval Service reduced its operational flotilla to six ships, placing two ships on operational pause, while a third ship entered a mid-life re-fit programme. The LÉ Roisín came back into operation last year following her mid-life re-fit, while the LÉ Niamh has begun her mid-life re-fit following the fire on board in October 2020. The reduction in overall Patrol Days 2020-2021 is mainly due to issues relating to Covid 19 as one of the ships, LÉ Ciara, could not go to sea given its inability, due to its size, to implement safely the necessary Covid 19 'clean ship' precautions. The fire on board the LÉ Niamh also contributed to the reduction in scheduled Patrol Days in 2020. A shortage of suitably qualified and experienced personnel during the period in question was also a factor. I acknowledge these challenges have had an impact on overall planned Patrol Days.
Notwithstanding some mechanical and staffing issues being experienced, the Naval Service continues to carry out the roles assigned by Government, including fishery protection and maritime security operations. My focus is on returning the Naval Service to its full capacity.