Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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108. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to an international armed soldier presence on a ship in Cork city on 16 June 2022. [32977/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Visits from foreign naval vessels are a long-standing and common practice in Ireland and worldwide.  

Foreign naval vessels are granted permission by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to visit Irish ports on condition that they meet the necessary policy stipulations. In particular, these require that naval vessels visiting Irish ports do not carry nuclear weapons and do not engage in military exercises.

In this instance, permission was requested earlier this month for the Royal Navy survey ship, HMS Enterprise, to pay a routine visit to Cork last week. Permission was granted on the basis of the conditions that I have already outlined, i.e. that the vessel not engage in any military exercises or naval manoeuvres or carry nuclear weapons.  These are the standard stipulations for any naval vessel to visit an Irish port. 

Routine courtesy visits by naval vessels to foreign ports are a regular feature of international relations and help to further bilateral ties. Ships from the Irish Naval Service regularly pay such visits to foreign ports, including to the UK.  On this occasion, the Irish Naval Service also availed of this opportunity to engage in a joint communication exercise with the British vessel in question outside Irish territorial waters.

Security arrangements for such visits are a matter for An Garda Síochána, with whom my Department consults before granting permission for a ship to visit.