Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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540. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will expand on his comments that he supports plans to introduce a fully functional Naval Service hospital ship which would have the capacity to respond to worldwide humanitarian emergencies; and if his Department has assessed the cost of purchasing and deploying such a vessel. [33657/16]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The White Paper provides for the replacement of the current Naval Service flagship LÉ Eithne with a multi role vessel which will be enabled for helicopter operations and will also have a freight carrying capacity. It is the Government’s intent that this new vessel will provide a flexible and adaptive capability for a wide range of maritime tasks, both at home and overseas.

The full range of specific roles and capabilities of the new vessel will be considered in detail by the Defence organisation when preparing the vessel design specification before going to the market as part of the White Paper implementation process. The tender process will dictate the overall cost of the multi role vessel in due course.