Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Heneghan for reminding us of the forthcoming anniversary of Senator Lawless, a man I had the honour and privilege of knowing and serving with in these Houses. He was a man that my predecessor, Enda Kenny, was honoured to appoint to Seanad Éireann. He served with distinction in the Seanad but he also served with distinction beyond the Seanad, both as an incredible businessman and an incredible advocate for Irish people in America, most particularly in Chicago. I know he had very close links with the Obama Administration. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. We think of him and his family and the Deputy's member of staff at this time.

The point the Deputy makes is right and I will ask my defence advisers to give further consideration to that. I ran out of time the last time but I did want to say that we have just announced the signing of a multimillion euro contract with Thales DMS for the provision of towed sonar capability for the Defence Forces. That, too, is going to make a big difference in terms of our security because the new sonar capability will now be used on Irish naval vessels to monitor activities in the Irish exclusive economic zone, in particular in the vicinity of our subsea communication cables or our gas pipelines. As I said in response to an earlier question, work is also ongoing on the development of radar capability. I will keep the Deputy up to date.

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