Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I think this is the first time that I have addressed him since his elevation, so I congratulate him on his new role. Section 9 of this Bill concerns "State sovereignty and ownership of territorial" areas. Politicians in this House love to talk frequently about Ireland's neutrality and how it boxes above its weight on the international stage. Today, we must put an end to that myth. I state that because writing things on a piece of paper to satisfy the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was adopted in 1982, is frankly nonsense when we are in a situation where the State can only claim ownership and sovereignty of that which it can protect itself. We are talking here about distances as far as 200 miles off the coast of Ireland, and we do not have the capacity to protect that area.

It is important to remember that the Naval Service is the State's principal seagoing agency and it is required to uphold sovereignty at sea. It is the only agency which has the capability to achieve this aim throughout the exclusive economic zone, EEZ. The 2015 White Paper on Defence stated:

As the State’s principal sea-going agency, the Naval Service provides a unique sea-going capability. The Air Corps also has an effective maritime surveillance capacity. As the White Paper on Defence (2000) recognised, Naval Service vessels carry with them unique characteristics as an expression of state sovereignty and political will at sea and in furthering policy objectives in the maritime domain.

Is the Minister of State aware that Ireland recently had to rely on the European Union to provide a ship to patrol our fishing waters because of the absence of Naval Service ships? Is he also aware that the Naval Service has two ships tied up and unable to sail because we do not have the people to crew them? One third of our fishery patrols have been cancelled by the Naval Service so far this year. As of mid-May, 32% of the 405 patrol days have been cancelled by the Naval Service in 2021. This includes 86 days cancelled due to personnel shortages, which included some limited number because of Covid-19, and 44 days that were cancelled due to mechanical issues.

The game is up. The European Commission has copped on to the state of things in this country. It recently ordered a formal administrative inquiry into Ireland's ability to enforce European fisheries regulations and found the Irish system to be unsatisfactory. Therefore, the Commission has proposed a specific package of measures to address this situation. I read that the Government is actively working on these issues, but I do not see any evidence of this. This Bill adverts to "Jurisdiction in case of offence on foreign ship in territorial sea" and the prosecution of these offences on foreign ships. Who is going to police this aspect? Successive governments have run the Naval Service down to the crisis level where it is today and made it unable to enforce sovereignty regarding anything this Bill deals with.

Ireland claims sovereignty and ownership over a massive area that extends some 200 miles out to sea. It is an area with significant national resources and potential for maritime development.There is potential for wind energy and capacity for the production and storing of hydrogen, geothermal energy, as mentioned by my colleague, submarine storage, natural gas and carbon sequestration, fishery limits and submarine cables. Cables are now coming into this country, and will in the years ahead, from Iceland and Santander, which will carry massive data. We have just seen what happens in this country with respect to the protection of data and what occurred in the HSE.

In addition to this, we do not have ships with the capacity to see what is going on under the sea. We have decimated the Naval Service's deep-sea divers so we have no idea what is happening on the seabed. The following extract is from a paper entitled, "Patrolling Below the Horizon; Addressing Ireland's Awareness of our Maritime Geospatial Domain", by Lieutenant Shane Mulcahy of the Naval Service, published by the Defence Forces in its 2019 review:

The Irish government's 2015 White Paper on Defence provides limited direction, highlighting the Naval Service's ability to "express state sovereignty and political will at sea in order to further national policy objectives in the maritime domain". This is accompanied by the stated intention to provide an 'enhanced capability' in 'the protection of Ireland's vital sea lanes of communication'. The direction has thus far manifested itself in limited bottom [proofing capability] from surface assets, and a recent foray into the autonomous underwater vehicle sensors. Without systems capable of subsurface detection linked to data analysis systems ashore, the Naval Service remains quite literally, lost in the dark.

We are talking about trying to protect an area of sea that we simply do not have the people to protect. We are incapable of enforcing our sovereignty and ownership over the area this Bill proposes to protect. Quite frankly, we should first get our house in order and have our people ready to defend and protect that which we claim ownership to. We are not in a position to do that.

The Minister of State spoke of fisheries. Our native indigenous fisheries system is being run into the ground. Last week, fishermen in Cork had to protest to make the case that they are being run out of business.

I am sorry I am out of time. There were many things I wanted to say on this Bill, but we should fix our navy first and then start talking about our sovereignty and ownership.