Naval Service
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
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Brian Stanley (IND), Laois

I thank the Minister for her reply. Of course, the maritime area that has to be protected and that comes within our jurisdiction is massive. From her reply, I take it that there are four vessels that are seaworthy and available, as she said, at any one time. In relation to the rotation, are there some ships within that fleet of eight that are not seaworthy at all? The Minister might clarify that when she comes back. If I heard her right, I think she said that there are 833 staff. What are the numbers that were recruited in 2025, what were the numbers that retired and what is the target? They are the three key figures: the target, the numbers that have been recruited and the numbers that have retired or that have left the Naval Service. I know there has been recruitment to improve the capacity, and I welcome that. It is important we have it to protect our cables. The fact that we are a neutral country, which the Minister admitted in answer to a previous question, does not impede us in any way from increasing the capacity of our navy and having sensible levels of co-operation with neighbouring countries and other European countries.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07