The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, intends to sign a contract for a ninth Naval Service ship next month, only weeks after commissioning the State's eighth patrol vessel, the LE Roisin.
The new vessel will be built at a cost of over £20 million by Appledore Shipyard in Devon, with part-funding from the European Union. Appledore completed the eighth vessel for the Naval Service last year.
Speaking on TG4 news last night, the Minister said that funding had been provided in the Estimates for another vessel. It is expected to replace the LE Deirdre, which is due for decommissioning in two years' time.
The Minister is due to publish a White Paper on Defence later this month which will incorporate the Government's review of both the Naval Service and Air Corps.
The Naval Service recorded the first detention of the new century yesterday, when a British-registered Spanish fishing vessel was apprehended 60 miles west of the Skellig Rocks by the LE Aoife.