Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 62 and 71 together.

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. As he will be aware, Ireland, like many other countries in Europe, has witnessed a fundamental change in our security environment in the past year, with an increased focus on maritime security and the protection of subsea cables. The security of Ireland’s subsea infrastructure is a matter of utmost importance to the Government.

As I informed the House on 22 November during a debate on the consultative forum on international security, it is the Government's intention to develop a maritime security strategy, with the necessary resourcing, accompanying legislation and decision-making systems in place. This strategy will have a particular focus on subsea infrastructure.

Following the attacks on Nordstreams 1 and 2 in October 2022, my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, sought support from my Department for additional measures that could be put in place to ensure that critical offshore infrastructure, including data cables, was protected. As a result of this, enhanced patrolling of the Irish Sea in the vicinity of priority offshore infrastructure is taking place by a mixture of air and naval platforms.

For the Deputy’s awareness, the Naval Service, as the State's principal seagoing agency, is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. While the main daily tasking of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with our obligations as a member state of the EU, it also carries out a number of non-fishery-related tasks in tandem with maritime surveillance. Aerial monitoring and surveillance of the Irish exclusive economic zone is carried out by the Air Corps maritime patrol squadron. Two new C-295 maritime patrol aircraft, equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance and communication equipment, were delivered to the Air Corps in 2023 to replace the existing CASA CN-235 aircraft. Following an intensive period of training and verification, the new aircraft have recently been certified to commence operations.

My priority as Minister for Defence is to ensure that the operational capacity of the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service is maintained and developed. This is to enable the Defence Forces to carry out the roles assigned by the Government. A great deal of work is under way to ensure that we have the required capabilities, with equipment projects under way. We will make further capital acquisitions shortly in terms of strategic airlift and so forth.

See this speech in context