EU funding sought for new Naval Service £25m vessel

THE Government has taken the first step towards buying a new ship for the Naval Service at a cost of £25 million. An advertisement seeking proposals for an offshore patrol vessel is due to appear shortly in the EU journal, the Department of Defence has confirmed. It is hoped to receive up to 60 per cent EU funding.

It is understood that the Naval Service has requested a vessel of 60 to 70 metres in length with a speed of 25 knots which will be required to carry out the full range of tasks, including fishery protection, prevention of arms and drug smuggling, search and rescue and pollution control. The EU has already voted a capital sum for expansion of patrol capabilities in this, the second largest sea area in the European Union.

Originally, an additional three ships were to be sought, with the first to be acquired by the end of last year. However, this commitment was based on buying secondhand craft - a move which would have made far better sense, according to a recent study of this State's service by Jane's Navy International.

The burden of work in Ireland's 132,000 square mile fishery zone has increased by an estimated 30 per cent since Spanish and Portuguese fishing vessels were given access to the "Irish Box" last January, and there is also pressure to carry out an increasingly active role in anti drug measures.

Access to up to £76 million in EU capital aid would be used to buy more naval craft, the Minister for Defence and the Marine, Mr Barrett, said in Cork last year, when he expressed the view that, existing ships should be refilled and said he had asked the Naval Service to look into "launching more than one Gemini inflatable during fishery patrols".

A £12 million EU grant was also approved for patrolling costs.

The forthcoming EU Journal advertisement is the first concrete move towards purchasing an eighth ship, but at a time of an acute personnel crisis within the Naval Service. Responding yesterday to an Irish Times report on a significant drop in applications to both the Army and Naval Service, the Department of Defence said the fall had been expected in view of the reduction in age limit from 27 to under 22 years. The principal objective was to address the age profile problem, a spokesman for the Minister said.

The three inch increase in minimum height may also have affected applications. Meanwhile, the Defence Forces press office has also responded to Air Corps, concerns about retaining pilots, saying there is no policy of retention and that all 11 pilots who have applied to leave in 1996 will have been permitted to go by the end of January next.

In the Naval Service, crewing shortages and the maintenance required for ageing ships precludes deployment of the full fleet to sea, with only three ships out on average at any one time.

Average annual wastage has been 50 since 1990, excluding those who opt for voluntary early retirement, and applications for transfers to the Army have risen alarmingly. Some 85 are expected to leave the Naval Service this year. Current naval strength is 1,015, or 155 below the current authorised strength, which is itself only 85 per cent of the establishment figure, according to the Representative Association of Commission Officers.

. RTE is to mark the 50th anniversary of the Naval Service this year with a one hour television documentary tracing its development, produced by John Blackman. The Irish Navy - the first 50 years is due to be broadcast on RTE 1 on November 14th.