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

The Naval Service, as the State's principal sea-going agency, is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. While the main daily task of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with our obligations as an EU member state, it also carries out a number of other non-fishery related tasks in tandem with maritime surveillance. The Air Corps maritime patrol squadron also supports this role, providing aerial assistance to the Naval Service in patrolling the Irish exclusive economic zone, using the two CASA CN 235 maritime patrol aircraft which are equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance and communications equipment.

Following an extraordinary EU energy council meeting, which took place last week to discuss the EU’s energy security in response to the attacks on Nord Stream 1 and 2, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications sought support from my Department in relation to additional measures that could be put in place by the Defence Forces to ensure that critical offshore infrastructure, including data cables, is protected. My officials and the Defence Forces have been engaged with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, and while the Defence Forces have limited subsea capabilities, particularly in this specialist area, additional patrols and targeted surveillance of offshore infrastructure, including data cables, are being examined.

On the future development of subsea capabilities, the Commission on the Defence Forces report considers that the step up to level of ambition 2, LOA 2, should seek to deliver enhancement of subsurface capabilities to monitor subsea cables. The report states that to achieve this would mean the naval fleet should have enhanced air, surface and subsurface search capabilities, with the latter allowing the Naval Service to monitor activity in the vicinity of subsea cables. In order to achieve these desired capability effects associated with a move to LOA 2, specific recommendations made by the commission were accepted in principle by the Government when it published its high-level action plan.

We have also had meetings, not just between the two Departments but also involving Gas Networks Ireland and EirGrid. EirGrid already has a private company providing surveillance and monitoring capability for its undersea network and cables via global positioning system, GPS, tracking. There are some systems in place and we will increase patrolling, both by the Air Corps and the Naval Service, to improve that. We will continue to consult the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on the matter.

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