Eighth naval patrol ship to get 76 mm gun

It could have been a gun-less gunboat, but now there's no fear of that. The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has ruled that the State's eighth naval patrol ship should be fitted with a significant armament after all.

The new £20 million ship, which is currently under construction in Devon, will be fitted with a 76 mm Italian-made Oto Melara gun, The Irish Times has learned. It is similar to the armament on board two existing patrol vessels, the Le Ciara and Le Orla.

The "deck protection" will be added after the vessel leaves the shipyard next year, however, to comply with EU regulations.

The design has been geared towards inclusion of the gun, even though it looked as if the ship might have to do without one when it was commissioned by the Minister, Mr Smith, a year ago.

The controversy arose earlier this year on foot of EU funding for the patrol ship. The EU capital grant covers fisheries protection, but not defence. The gun, which will be paid for by the Exchequer, will permit the new ship to carry out other duties, such as countering drug-trafficking.

By international standards, a 76-mm gun is a defensive, rather than offensive, weapon, which could sink a vessel posing a pollution risk to the Irish coastline on the high seas.

Fishery patrol ships are not expected to apply force, under normal diplomatic agreements, unless they are Canadian vessels pursuing wayward Spaniards on the Grand Banks.

There have been exceptions in Irish waters, however. In October 1984, the Le Aisling fired warning shots across the bow and into the hull of a Spanish fishing vessel, the Sonia, when it tried to ram the patrol ship south of the Saltee Islands.

The Aisling then gave chase to the vessel. That night, the Sonia sank off Land's End, the crew was rescued, and the Naval Service was blamed. The then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Peter Barry, rejected the charge and said weather was the main factor.

Increasing pressure on dwindling marine resources has led to warnings by various scientists, strategists and environmental groups of the risk of "shore wars" in the coming century.

Ireland's ecological resource has been valued recently by a Naval Service representative group at £30 billion, using UN Ocean Commission computations.

Ireland is one of only two European maritime states - the other being Sweden - without combatant vessels. The State's waters are the second-largest and most poorly policed, due to the size of the seven-ship Navy fleet.