Ireland's subsea cables and gas pipelines 'very vulnerable' amid 'non-existent maritime security'
Ireland's
critical subsea infrastructure
is extremely vulnerable due to the
under-resourcing
of the Defence Forces and
Irish Navy
, a former TD and deputy commander of the Army Ranger Wing has warned.
Ireland's maritime footprint is seven times the country's land area and is home to the majority of
transatlantic data communications
.
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For example, the AEC-1 cable connects New York with Ireland, landing at Killala, Co Mayo. It is 5,534 km long and has been operating since 2016. The system primarily serves telecommunications providers, cloud service providers, content delivery networks, and enterprises that require efficient data transport solutions.
These undersea cables are crucial to various aspects of daily life, including
cloud storage
and banking systems. Around three-quarters of Ireland's national gas is also imported via undersea pipelines.
Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris has said he expects contract negotiations for the supply of advanced sonar technology to conclude within a number of months. However, the first sonar systems are not expected to be operational until July 2027, meaning Ireland is largely dependent on foreign navies to detect threats.
In an interview with
BreakingNews.ie
, former TD and soldier Cathal Berry said Ireland's undersea cables and gas pipelines are "very vulnerable".
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"All our data centres, all our video footage of our families, our photographs are stored in data centres, not on our phones. We're hugely vulnerable because the umbilical cords between Europe and North America are very vulnerable."
"There are about a dozen data cables coming into Ireland. More importantly, we have two gas pipelines coming in from Scotland, which are even more strategically crucial because Ireland has no natural gas."
"We're the only EU country without any natural gas reserve. If those two gas pipelines across the Irish Sea were taken out, there would be about eight hours of gas left in the pipes."
"About 15 per cent of our supply comes from the Corrib gas field, but that reservoir is drying up too. We also have two electricity interconnectors with the UK, which are important because we need them to balance out the grid."
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"Our critical subsea infrastructure is very vulnerable and exposed, and we're very vulnerable and exposed because we're an island nation and we depend on it."
He pointed to the lack of resources available to the Irish Naval Service, which he believes is at its lowest ebb since it was established in 1946.
"These energy and data sources come in via the ocean. Unfortunately, our navy is at its lowest ebb — it's never been as poorly resourced."
"Twenty-five years ago, when Ireland was a much poorer country, we could land a helicopter on an Irish Navy vessel. Now, we have no maritime helicopter capability and no naval vessel with a helipad."
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"Fifteen years ago, we could put eight ships out to sea. Now, we can barely put out two. We have no permanent presence at sea. That is why drug cartels are taking full advantage — people trafficking, fugitives, guns, any kind of contraband you want. It's open season in Ireland because we have no sovereign force operating at sea."
"We really are the weakest link. We're a major hub in international drug trafficking, particularly narcotics coming from South America into Europe. And drugs, like water, will always travel to the point of least resistance. That's why there's a lot of this activity off our coast."
Mr Berry added: "If Russia or any country wanted to squeeze America and Europe, they would begin here. We have no Article 5 protection from NATO, and we have a policy of neutrality, but we haven't resourced that policy. It's like having a health or housing policy — if you don't resource it, it won't work."
"The big concern is that we will wake up some morning and some of this critical infrastructure has been sabotaged or interfered with. Then there will be a lot of hand-wringing, reports, commissions of inquiry."
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Mr Berry spent 23 years in the Defence Forces. During this time, he spent six years in the Army Ranger Wing (ARW) and served overseas in the Balkans, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2008, he led an ARW company in Chad.
'Decades of neglect'
He said "decades of neglect" have led to the recruitment and retention crisis in the Defence Forces.
"It's been decades of neglect and indifference, and this is where we are as a result. To be there is definitely a different attitude among Irish ministers who have travelled to Europe in the last five years in particular, they realise the concern Europe has for Ireland.
"It's similar to the banking crisis when Europe was telling us 'you're accumulating this massive risk in the banking sector'. Ireland was laughing saying 'we've conquered economics, you're just jealous', then the banking crisis and housing crisis hit.
"Our security crisis is no less concerning and it could also end with a catastrophe.
"Ireland asked the international community to recognise it over 100 years ago, with that right comes the responsibility to police your own seas and waters."
He said the problems facing the Air Corps should be another worry when it comes to the State's security and defence.
"What's happening in the Air Corps at the moment, it looks like the maritime patrol squadron will have to relocate to Shannon Airport because the air traffic control tower in Baldonnel is office hours only.
"That is saying the maritime squadron and patrolling our territorial waters is not a national priority.
"When we were a poorer country we did man Baldonnel properly and we did recognise that there was a need for a properly functioning Air Corps. Up until 1998 we had subsonic jet interceptors, every year it is death by a thousand cuts.
"There is €250 million of naval assets lying idle in Cork Harbour at the moment because we don't have the crew to put them to sea."
Mr Berry said the current political debate about the triple lock is a "distraction from the real defence and security issues".
Former KIldare South TD Cathal Berry was a deputy commander in the Army Ranger Wing.
"These are the actual defence issues that matter, the elephant in the room. Unfortunately some politicans and wannabe politicians have gone down the rabbit hold of focusing on an esoteric, academic thing like the triple lock rather than dealing with the actual issues that matter.
"The issues are that we can't put our navy to sea, we have no air traffic control in Baldonnel. The only Irish air base at the moment is operating 9-5, office hours only, five days a week. That is a crisis in anyone's language.
"Wheter the triple lock stays or goes is irrelevant to me. But if it stays it should be applied to every occupation on the public payroll not just discriminating against soliders, for instance, it should apply to diplomats, politicians, trade missions, civil servants. The idea that it applies only to members of the Defence Forces is completely unnaceptable to me, if other occupations experienced the same level of extreme micro management they would have a very different view on it.
"Our very fine soldiers, sailors and aviators have distinguished themselves across the globe for decades. If it is to stay, it should apply to all public occupations with only 12 allowed to travel together."
Mr Berry said the Defence Forces is "fundamentally a people business" and that improvements in conditions for members will go a "long way to solving this crisis".
'Three Ps'
"A ship, an aircraft, is only as good as the soldier, sailor or aviator crewing it. There hasn't been enough ministerial intervention, particularly over the last 10 years, to solve that problem.
Ireland
Changes to triple lock 'nothing to do with neutral...
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"It requires a direct itervention from the Cabinet table to fix this. Our maritime security is almost non-existent.
"If you want to solve the people issue it's the three Ps - pay, purpose, pride.
"If you pay tecnichians and specialists propertly they will stay in the navy, if you provide people with the right resources they will have purpose.
"Solve the pay and purpose piece, then people will be walking around in their navy and military uniforms proud of their jobs."
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