THE NAVAL Service has seen a 100 per cent increase in applications for cadetships. A quarter of these have been submitted by university graduates.
Some 1,000 applications for just 12 cadet posts with the Naval Service are anticipated by the closing date of midnight tomorrow.
In a statement yesterday, the Defence Forces said it had already received 1,641 online applications for both the Army and the Naval Service.
The surge in interest in cadetships at sea comes at a time when Ireland is awaiting the outcome of a claim to the United Nations (UN) to extend sovereign rights up to 550 miles off the country’s west coast.
If successful, the claim to the Hatton-Rockall area will extend Ireland’s seabed jurisdiction to 13 times the land mass of the Republic.
Britain has also submitted a claim to the UN for the same area.
Both Ireland and Britain agreed a maritime boundary on the continental shelf in this region in 1988, but Iceland and Denmark have made overlapping claims.
Five years ago, the national seabed survey signalled that there could be significant oil and gas reserves north and west of the Rockall and Hatton banks, when it confirmed the existence of hydrocarbon sediment basins in the area.
A ruling by the UN in Ireland’s favour is based on a consensus approach reached by other states. While it may provide new exploration opportunities, it may also increase pressure on the Naval Service to police a significantly expanded sea area.
The UN has already approved a claim by Ireland to the Porcupine Abyssal plain off the southwest, which extends Ireland’s continental shelf area by up to 39,000sq km.
Another claim has been lodged jointly by Ireland and others in the Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay areas, where there have been unresolved boundary issues with Britain, France and Spain.
Under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal states can claim rights over waters some 370km off their shores, subject to the rights of other states. Ireland’s new claims are based on the premise that the island’s continental shelf, and by definition the State’s exploration rights, extends beyond the 370km limits.
Ireland already has the largest maritime/land ratio of any European state in relation to sovereign rights, according to British government calculations.
A decision on purchasing three new ships for the Naval Service, to replace the existing LE Emer, LE Aoife and LE Aisling, is still on hold.
This follows publication of the tender by Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea two years ago.
The Defence Forces says that applications for Army and Naval Service cadetships will be accepted up to midnight tomorrow on www.military.ie