Madam, – The Asgard II training vessel still lies damaged in the Bay of Biscay. Both Asgard and Asgard II have a long and honourable history in this country. They are symbols of our struggle for freedom and our present commitment to train young people in seafaring skills.
My family has a particularly strong link to both boats – my grandparents sailed the Asgard into Howth with its cargo of weapons for the Irish Volunteers. In these grim and forbidding days surely this is the moment to reinvigorate our spirits and our hopes for the future by raising Asgard II from the its underwater prison.
It appears that most of the cost of raising the vessel will be covered by insurance. It is time for the Minister for Defence to accelerate efforts to salvage the boat. – Yours, etc,