Naval Service to get new £20m vessel

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, is about to sign a contract for a new Naval Service ship costing £20 million, which will be grant-aided by the EU. The vessel is understood to be multi-purpose and the contract has been secured by a British bidder.

A "substantial" down-payment will be made this year and the final deal is expected to be signed before Christmas.

The decision was taken after considerable conflict within the Government over the role of a new vessel. The Department of the Marine had been in favour of ordering several smaller craft which would be confined solely to fisheries protection duties.

EU grant-aid of between 50 and 65 per cent of the total cost is as signed only for fisheries surveillance, under a package agreed as part compensation for greater access by Spain and Portugal to Irish waters. The total capital budget for this purpose was quoted last year at £76 million.

Mr Smith, who is due to confirm that there will be continuous recruitment to the Defence Forces when he addresses the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers in the Curragh, Co Kildare, today, has made a commitment that there will be crew for the new ship.

He has taken a specific interest in personnel issues since assuming office and agreement was reached recently between his officials and the representative association on a promotion scheme.

Crewing is a particular problem in the Naval Service where low morale has contributed to a significant loss of trained staff, including watch-keepers. Nine officers and 75 non-commissioned staff have left this year, and there has been a problem in holding on to recruits. Of 20 officers who have left in the past three years, only two have applied on age grounds.

Staffing has also been a problem in the Air Corps, which has not been able to supply a full complement of pilots to the proposed new east-coast medium-range search-and-rescue helicopter service. Ireland has the second-largest and most poorly protected sea area in the EU, and the Naval Service has maintained it would require 12 ships to police the 132,000 square-mile sea area.

The initiative to seek EU funds for more fishery patrol ships was taken two years ago shortly after the previous government took office.

However, an initial commitment to seek funds for up to three new ships was revised to one and no contract was signed before the general election.