Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Most of our fleet are named after women from the LE Niamhand LE Róisínto the LE Ciara, which has now been decommissioned. Traditionally our Naval Service vessels had been named after Irish females and in some cases mythical names. My predecessor, Deputy Alan Shatter, decided to use names that would help to improve the ambassadorial role that naval vessels have when they are abroad so that people would associate Ireland with people and things that Irish people are proud of, one of those areas being literary names. That is why we have the LE James Joyceand LE Samuel Beckett. There is no final decision yet on the name of the third vessel. The Deputy will have to wait and see.

The figure of minus 36% looks like a big reduction on last year but it is a really significant increase on the years prior to that. The figure last year was to take account of the €70 million spent on a new ship. This year €34 million is being spent on the new ship. Back in the years 2012 and 2013, the total figure would have been in the range of €33 million to €35 million. This is actually still €10 million more than would normally be spent on naval equipment. We are delivering on the commitment to have three new offshore patrol vessels, which is a significant addition.