Joe Conway (Independent)

I thank the Minister of State for his input. Is he familiar with a deal that was made with the French armaments company called Thales for a towed sonar device to be towed along after our naval vessels? As I was saying in the House last week, any skipper from Killybegs or Dunmore East will say that towing anything at sea is a pretty dodgy business. If they are towing something that is as precarious as looking after undersea cables or gas lines, those tow smart ropes, as they are called in the industry, are particularly vulnerable to salinity, currents, snagging, impact on rocks or on the bottom. There are so many things that can go wrong. In our new SAFE initiative, will any consideration be given by the Government to investing in a state-of-the-art diesel-electric submarine that would be built by our neighbours in Germany? It would have an ability to stay at sea for long times, to really address what is going on underneath the water and would offer a viable way of patrolling our exclusive economic zone.