Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 48 together.

The Naval Service provides the maritime element of the Defence Forces and has a general responsibility to meet contingent and actual maritime defence requirements. In the 2000 White Paper on Defence, the Government decided that the Naval Service would be based on an eight-ship flotilla and committed to a modernisation and replacement strategy to maximise the operational capacity of those eight vessels consistent with the roles assigned to the Naval Service.

The White Paper specifically provides that "new vessels will be brought on stream to replace older ones as these fall due for replacement". Naval Service vessels are replaced when they have come to the end of their useful life, which is normally approximately 30 years. Three ships will fall due for replacement over the next three to five years, namely, LE Emer, commissioned in 1978, LE Aoife, commissioned in 1979 and LE Aisling, commissioned in 1980.

Following a detailed examination of the needs of the Naval Service, a vessel replacement strategy has been put in place to cover the period up to 2012. The vessel replacement strategy combined with a continuous process of refurbishment will ensure that the operational capability of the Naval Service is maintained at a very high level.

Following Government approval in July 2007 to go to tender, notice of a competition for the purchase of replacement vessels for the Naval Service was placed in the Official Journal of the European Union on 24 August 2007. The competition is for the purchase of two offshore patrol vessels, with an option on a third, and one extended patrol vessel, with an option on a second. The options provide an effective value-for-money opportunity, at locked in prices, to provide replacements for Naval Service vessels which will reach the end of their service life in the years immediately following the current replacement programme. The competition uses a restricted procedure which comprises two stages — stage one, a request for proposals, and stage two, an invitation to tender.

The closing date for stage one is 26 October next. Following evaluation of proposals a detailed specification will issue to those invited to participate in stage two. The evaluation of stage one proposals and the preparation of the detailed specification for stage two will be carried out between November 2007 and April 2008. Depending on the quality of the proposals received, a maximum of seven companies will be invited to tender. This invitation to tender is expected to issue in May 2008, with tenders due in July or August. Following detailed tender evaluation, it is intended to award a contract in late 2008.

The decision to proceed with the final award of contract to purchase the vessels will be subject to Government approval and agreement on funding, the full requirement for which will not be known until the tender competition has concluded. However, it is expected that the cost of the three new ships will be of the order of €180 million. The funding arrangements for this will be a matter for further consideration, in consultation with my colleague. the Minister for Finance, in the context of the Estimates process.

It is expected that the vessels will be delivered on a phased basis between 2010 and 2012. The Government is committed to continuous investment in the equipment needs of the Naval Service to enable it to carry out the roles assigned to it. The most recent ships purchased for the Naval Service were the LE Róisín commissioned in 1999 and the LE Niamh commissioned in 2001. The total cost of the two ships was approximately €50 million.

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