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

In response to the Deputy's final question, there could be additional demands on the service but people like me and others must try to ensure that we reach a deal on fisheries, trade and a level playing field and fair competition before the end of the year. Those three areas will either all be agreed or none will be agreed, frankly. They come as a package, in parallel. In the absence of an agreement on fisheries, we will have a very complex problem on our hands at sea in terms of tension between fleets and we will need to manage that as best we can. That will obviously put pressure on the Naval Service.

Not for the first time, I am on record as saying that I am focused on trying to address the particular problems in the Naval Service. We have a whole range of other issues that need to be addressed across the Defence Forces generally but the Naval Service is a particular problem right now. This time last year, the Air Corps was a particular problem but a solution was found. We need to get our fleet back up to a more acceptable strength and get our ships back out to sea. To do that, we need to devise an impactful strategy to retain personnel and stop them leaving, and also to recruit former members of the service as well as new serving personnel. We are focusing on that and will be launching a specific strategy to do that in the next few days or weeks. We are also working on a support package to try to achieve our aims. These things are not easy but they are important.

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