Joe Conway (Independent)

It is gratifying to note that a recent announcement from the Minister for Defence is the harbinger of a contract with Thales to supply a sonar detection facility for the Irish Naval Service. The lack of this has been pointed out routinely by Members in this House and I am sure our urgings have hastened that initiative. We often hear the cliché "it's just a sticking plaster" that will only last a short while. In this case, that might be a bit ambitious. A wet sticking plaster might be more appropriate because it will not even adhere in the first place.

As any Dunmore East or Killybegs skipper could tell one, towing anything behind a vessel is not an exact science. It becomes infinitely more challenging when used at great depths where massive and unpredictable currents come into play, where salinity and visibility can vary greatly and imperceptibly and where both of these are attended by an ever-present hazard of potential snagging. All of this points to the imperative for highly trained and skilled operatives. To add to that, consider the significant area of the exclusive economic zone, which is approximately 500,000 sq. km. This is roughly the equivalent of the US exclusive economic zone in the north Atlantic from Maine to Florida. Between the US Navy surface vessels, submarines and other assets coupled with the plethora of US Coastguard vessels, the aggregated number is in the several hundreds. In contrast, we might just have two but most likely one serviceable and suitable asset for this complex work. I can only see delay and dithering and very little defence and detection.

I entreat the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence and indeed the entire Government to approach NATO positively with a view to urgent membership. It is preposterous that we, a sovereign state with an exclusive economic zone the size of the US in the north Atlantic, is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization but instead uses for a functional naval service what are essentially a few lengths of the inquisitive rope to defend and monitor the assets that carry $10 trillion worth of business and commerce every day. We are sleepwalking into doom if we continue to fail to address this critical national emergency.