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

We have CASA aircraft but we also have PC-12s and PC-9Ms. Let us not paint the picture that we have no capacity. It is clear that we need to improve our capacity and to invest in subsea surveillance capacity in particular. That needs to be factored into the provision and equipping of new ships coming in, particularly the multirole vessel. This will be a very expensive piece of equipment and the largest ship we have ever had in our naval fleet. It will have a lot of extra capacity, both subsea and radar. However, that is, in reality, a number of years off. I take that point. As I have said, we are currently in discussions with the infrastructure owners and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on the appropriate interventions that should be made from a Defence Forces perspective to ensure surveillance and security is maximised, within reason. However, let us not talk ourselves into a problem. There is a lot of cabling and subsea infrastructure across the European Union and multiple countries are looking at theirs in the same way that we are looking at ours. Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are in a very different risk category from our infrastructure. That does not mean we should ignore the risk. We should not and we are having the appropriate meetings and discussions in that regard.

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