John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Not to be outdone, I am going to make a proposal as well. While Cork is well served by Haulbowline and the footprint of the Naval Service there, we will have to consider the east coast in the context of our Naval Service as well, and there would be no better location to establish a base than Arklow in my constituency. It would be a great home for the LÉ Eithnein future.

We must consider the decommissioning of these three vessels and learn from our previous attempts where we caused controversy back in 2015, or I should say that the Maltese caused some controversy when they described the LÉ Aoifeas being past its sell-by date and, essentially, as a piece of junk. Further controversy ensued in respect of how the LÉAisling was decommissioned and ultimately ended up in the hands of a Libyan warlord. After being sold by the State for a mere €110,000, the vessel was eventually sold to the individual in question for €1.3 million. In light of that, we must consider this issue seriously.

The Minister spoke about the option of a transfer to another government of two of the vessels. I ask him to elaborate on those discussions and what exactly is being examined in that regard.

See this speech in context