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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on problems in the Air Corps: Ireland's no-fly zone
The shortage of air traffic controllers in the Air Corps , which threatens to curtail military operations, is the most extreme manifestation yet of the recruitment problems facing the Defence Forces. The move to five-day-a-week, day-time-only flying operations at Casement Aerodrome is of a piece with Naval Service vessels being tied up because of crew shortages and in some cases going on patrol without functioning main weapons. It also mirrors the difficulties experienced by the Army in meeting EU and UN commitments. Paradoxically, the State's need for a functioning Defence Force – and in particular an Air Corps and Naval Service – has probably not been greater since a state of emergency was declared during the second World War. Incursions into Irish air space and territorial waters are on the increase as east-west tensions escalate. The communication cables that criss-cross the Irish sea bed are seen to be both particularly vulnerable and uniquely important. A number of specific issues lie behind the shortage of air traffic controllers, as is the case with shortages of similarly key personnel in the Naval Service and Army. For air traffic controllers, it is the allure of work in the private sector for better pay and conditions. Controllers leaving for the public sector is not a new phenomenon but to date the rate of attrition has been sustainable. READ MORE This is no longer the case and the implications of reduced flying operations for Garda and air ambulance operations as well as the security of the State mandate action. There are a number of stop gap measures that can be put in place, such as retention payments which have been sought previously by the Defence Forces. But ultimately the issue of staff retention can only be addressed by making careers in the Defence Forces an attractive option. This is a about more than pay and conditions. It also includes culture and values. Until these deficits are addressed the Minister for Defence's vision of an expanded Air Corps which could ultimately operate modern fighter jets is the stuff of fantasy.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Parlous state of Defence Forces once again laid bare
The parlous state of the Ireland's Defence Forces has again been laid bare by staff shortages leading to a reduction in operations. In January our Crime and Security Correspondent Conor Gallagher reported that one of the Naval Service 's most modern ships has been forced to patrol without a functioning main weapons system. The failing was due to a severe shortage of qualified naval ordnance technicians, which has left the service unable to maintain all its weapons. Previously Gallagher reported that the Naval Service was sending out an average of one ship per day to monitor Ireland's vast territorial waters, despite Government warnings of maritime threats from foreign militaries and organised crime groups. READ MORE In today's lead Gallagher outlines how senior military sources say Irish military flight operations are to move to part-time hours at the Air Corps headquarters and may soon have to cease entirely. The move will have huge implications for rescue, medical and policing services. As it stands, an acute shortage of trained air traffic controllers (ATCs) at the Air Corps's only base at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, Dublin, is resulting in a move to a five-day-a week, daytime-only flying schedule. This includes flights by the Garda helicopters. The 505 Squadron, which is responsible for air traffic control, is supposed to have 21 personnel but in recent years it has been operating at about 50 per cent capacity. Five personnel are due to depart shortly for the private sector, necessitating the move to a reduced schedule, which takes effect from June 7th. Military sources said if just one or two more ATCs depart, Baldonnel will no longer be able to maintain flight operations. The crisis comes as Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris has promised a large investment in the Air Corps, which will soon be renamed the Irish Air Force. This includes the purchase of a military radar system, four new helicopters, one new troop transport aircraft and a complete refurbishment of Baldonnel. Eventually, combat fighter jets will be acquired to patrol Irish skies, Mr Harris has said. The Defence Forces and Department of Defence both said they did not comment on operational issues. The Government does have plans to ramp up Defence spending in the coming years but it is playing catch-up after many years of underinvestment. Independents overboard It was a case of Independents overboard as two Government-supporting TDs voted against the Coalition in favour of a Sinn Féin Bill in support of Palestine. Barry Heneghan of Dublin Bay North and Meath East TD Gillian Toole broke ranks with the other Independents thatsupport the Government in a Dáil vote on Wednesday night. But the Government's majority is not at risk yet as the Dáil still voted by a margin of 87 to 75 against the Opposition party's Bill that sought to curtail Israeli access to sell bonds through the Irish financial system And while Heneghan and Toole did not support the Coalition on this occasion, it does not mean they will not back it (in all likelihood most of the time) in future. As Jack Horgan-Jones and Marie O'Halloran report, Heneghan said he supported the legislation 'because Ireland shouldn't facilitate the sale of bonds that help fund the devastation in Gaza'. However, he also said he is 'fully committed' to the Programme for Government. He added that 'as an Independent TD, I reserve the right to act on matters of conscience'. Heneghan and Toole were part of the Regional Independent Group of TDs which convened around Tipperary North TD Michael Lowry during Programme for Government negotiations. After the negotiations were concluded, Mr Lowry said the group would support the Government 'on good days and bad'. It appears from Henaghan and Toole's votes on Wednesday that this will not always be the case. Their move will likely irritate backbenchers in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael who might like to break ranks occasionally on unpopular issues but are under the party whip and there are consequences if they do so. But what happened on Wednesday was a demonstration why the two larger parties cast the net so wide in enlisting the support of nine independents during Government formation talks. The non-party TDs can be a wobbly third leg of the stool in Coalitions. Best Reads Political Editor Pat Leahy reports that the State could face financial penalties totalling as much as €28 billion for failing to sufficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, experts say. It comes after and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report showed that Ireland's progress towards the goal of reducing emissions by half is slowing. It will now only achieve reductions of 23 per cent in a best-case scenario. In other environmental news whales have left Cork waters as sprat, their food source, is in short supply, a Cork-based businessman has said after abandoning tours of the waters. Colin Barnes, who ran a whale-watching boat tour company, has been put out of business after the departure of the cetaceans. Katie Mellet has the story . RTÉ were back before an Oireachtas Committee on Wednesday. Current Affairs Editor Arthur Beesley reckons it was a drab sequel to firework show of two years ago starring Ryan Tubridy Miram Lord writes the Montrose chiefs were back for 'another grilling at the media committee barbecue – but where's the beef?' Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tells Jack Power that the European Union needs to 'grow a bit of backbone' and stand-up to Israel. Harry McGee reports that the non-jury Special Criminal Court and the Offences Against the State Act are set to be repealed after more than 50 years in existence following the acceptance by the Minister for Justice of the recommendations of an expert review group. However, the replacement of the legislation will not mean an end to non-jury courts. Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan said that they remained necessary for certain cases and that had been a recommendation of the Independent Review Group, chaired by Mr Justice Micheal Peart. Playbook Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe is first up in the Dáil taking Parliamentary Questions from 8.47am. Next up to be quizzed by TDs is Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers at 10:23am. Leaders' Questions is at noon. Government business at 1.52pm is statements on flood relief. TDs have an opportunity to raise 'Topical Issues' from 4.17pm. A Labour Party Bill aimed at giving the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission more powers to tackle 'unfair prices' will be debated at 5.17pm. There will be statements on Gaza in the Seanad from 9am. The Committee on Defence and National Security will begin pre-legislative scrutiny of the Government's proposals to scrap the triple-lock on the deployment of Irish soldiers overseas from 9:30am. Representatives of the Arts Council and the National Gallery are expected to be before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) from 10:30am . Expect TDs to delve into issues like the €6.7 million spent by the Arts Council on a new IT system that was eventually abandoned and the separate controversy over the €125,000 x-ray scanner bought by the National Gallery that lay idle for eight years. The full schedule for the Dáil, Seanad and Committees can be found here. Sign up for Politics push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for the Inside Politics newsletter to get our politics team's take direct to your inbox.
Irish Examiner
19-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
EU and Britain to deepen cooperation on maritime security
The European Union and Britain have committed to deepening cooperation on maritime security and protecting critical infrastructure, including on subsea data cables and energy pipelines. The agreement could benefit Ireland's Defence Forces in improving its ability to know what is going on in its large maritime area — seven times the size of Ireland — and cooperate with British services in monitoring and patrolling zones that have clusters of cables and key pipelines. The first EU-UK Summit in London also committed to increasing cooperation on hostile cyberattacks, protecting democratic institutions from foreign interference and countering terrorism and extremism. The agreements on a Security and Defence Partnership were part of commitments on wider issues, such as fishing and trade. Tánaiste Simon Harris welcomed the 'balanced programme of cooperation', which included commitments on emission trading, fisheries arrangements, electricity-trading and 'a Security and Defence Partnership outlining areas for EU-UK cooperation on security and defence policy'. In a joint statement, the EU and British Government said: 'We confirmed our steadfast dedication to the rules based international order, with the UN at its core, and the fundamental tenets of democracy, respect for human rights and rule of law.' The Security and Defence Partnership Agreement said the EU and Britain face 'a volatile and increasingly challenging security environment', as demonstrated by Russia's 'unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine'. It said security and prosperity are 'closely interconnected and interdependent'. 'These shared interests go beyond traditional strategic domains, to include areas such as cyber and hybrid threats, space, and the resilience of critical infrastructure," it said. In addition to strengthening cooperation on Ukraine, the Security and Defence Partnership also commits to: Explore deepening practical cooperation on maritime security, including the security and resilience of critical infrastructure and secure sea lines and enhance 'joint activities at sea'; Develop further cooperation to prevent, deter and respond to malicious cyber activities and deepen exchanges and cooperation on building cyber capacity; Cooperate on targeting hybrid threats, including with academic institutions, and exchange approaches on building resilience on key facilities such as underwater infrastructure; Strengthen cooperation to counter malign foreign states or groups attempting to undermine security and democratic institutions by information manipulation and interference; Develop cooperation on counter-terrorism and violent extremism Mr Harris told the Dáil this month that three of the Naval Service's P60 class offshore patrol vessels were available for operations on a rotation basis. He said a total of 97 personnel were inducted into the Naval Service in 2024 and that, to date in 2025, a further 37 personnel have been inducted into training. He said the strength as of April 9 was 745 personnel, compared to an agreed establishment strength of 1,094. Last week, a further 20 new sailors joined. Read More Ethics watchdog opens hearing into Cork TD Ken O'Flynn's comments in 2021 radio interview
Irish Times
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Ireland's call: John Mulqueen on a man who highlighted our neglect of maritime heritage
The proposal that the Naval Service – soon to be the Navy – double its number of ships is welcome news for those alarmed about the historical failure to protect Irish waters. Nobody would be more pleased than John de Courcy Ireland, the campaigner who did his utmost to draw attention to the neglect of our maritime heritage over the course of a long life (1911-2006). He first crossed the ocean as a young boy, from India, before an unhappy time in a London prep school. However, holidays in Ireland with his grandmother – 'an ardent patriot' – were joyful. She instilled in him a strong sense of Irish identity and he later remembered her as 'the light of my childhood'. Fascinated by the sea, aged 17 he fled his English public school, Marlborough, to spend the next year as a steward on voyages between Europe and South America – a 'far more civilised' experience. With his wife Betty, de Courcy Ireland visited the Aran Islands in 1938 to improve his Irish and moved to Co Donegal a year later to write a book about the Border. When the war against Hitler's Germany began, in September 1939, Penguin cancelled his contract, but the de Courcy Irelands decided to remain, in Muff, on the banks of Lough Foyle. Defending our neutrality during the war finally pushed de Valera's government into spending the money to establish a marine service, which merely consisted of a fishery patrol vessel, formerly the Helga (used in 1916 to bombard the rebels in the GPO), an armed trawler, and six motor torpedo boats acquired from the British. De Courcy Ireland joined the new local security force and participated in coastal patrols. He found work in the construction of the naval base in nearby Derry, but was fired for his involvement in a workers' delegation looking for better conditions READ MORE He then moved to Dublin to take up a teaching job at St Patrick's Cathedral Grammar School. War-time austerity measures led to trade union militants joining the Labour Party and the de Courcy Irelands played their part in helping candidates such as 'Big Jim' Larkin to put Fianna Fáil under electoral pressure, albeit briefly. In March 1943, de Courcy Ireland attracted the attention of the Standard, a right-wing Catholic weekly. Under the headline 'Comrade John Ireland', the anonymous accuser stated that he had written in praise of those 'striving to end capitalist darkness around the world'. The weekly also boasted that it had 'snooped' on him for four years and observed that this 'itinerant politician' had attended Protestant services in Muff. And, it reported, Betty was chairwoman of the Labour Party's women's section in Dublin, no less. This attack concluded with the threat that the Standard hoped 'to be able to pursue Comrade Ireland and Mrs Betty Ireland a little further.' De Courcy Ireland defended his 'Protestant Irish' background in an unpublished letter to the editor – he was proud to be a member of that 'not insignificant minority' that had produced such radical thinkers as Wolfe Tone and Jonathan Swift. The couple found themselves subject to press attention again, in December 1958, this time as nuclear disarmament campaigners. They were described in an Irish Times profile as a vigorous pair of 'do-gooders' who lived in a quiet Dún Laoghaire square of three-storey Victorian houses, in an atmosphere 'redolent of the Kingstown past'. The interviewer highlighted de Courcy Ireland's interest in all things relating to the sea. 'Inside, the first impression is of books: row upon row of them, their range giving a key to the interests of the household. Here is (its owner thinks) the largest private library in Ireland on maritime subjects, running into 13 languages.' Another 'well-thumbed' group consisted of political works, 'mostly left-of-centre'. De Courcy Ireland's energetic activism included serving as honorary secretary of the Dún Laoghaire lifeboat and joint honorary secretary of the Maritime Institute. He looked forward to the creation of a museum – 'for which an entire room of his house already contains the nucleus of exhibits'. The following year, under the institute's auspices, he played the leading role in establishing the National Maritime Museum. This found a berth, as it were, from 1978 in the former Mariners' Church in Dún Laoghaire, to which he donated his own vast collection of nautical artefacts and documents. Ireland and the Irish in Maritime History (1986) is recognised as de Courcy Ireland's foremost piece of scholarship, which surveyed our marine heritage and the activities of Irish people in the merchant and naval services of other countries. The book studied a subject, he wrote, 'positively ignored in this country'. However, words were not enough – he remained an activist. De Courcy Ireland campaigned against successive proposals for the private development of Dún Laoghaire harbour and the adjoining seafront. In 1988, his skilful approach persuaded the Fianna Fáil taoiseach, CJ Haughey, to suspend the project and order consultation with local interests. His diplomacy, Haughey remarked, proved that there were 'still gentlemen about'.
The Journal
22-04-2025
- The Journal
Gardaí searched fishing boat and other locations on west coast following suspicious activity
GARDAÍ LAUNCHED A series of raids on properties on the west coast last week and carried out a search on board a fishing boat in a nearby location in an operation targeting suspected organised crime. The Journal has learned that searches were launched across the coast of Clare on Friday. The searches were centred around people with connections to those working in the maritime sector. It has emerged that the operation focused on a fishing trawler type vessel which had apparently sailed from a location on the south coast more than a week ago. Contact with its onboard transponder, known as Automatic Identification System (AIS), was lost five days before the craft appeared in a small harbour on the west coast. Sources have said that gardaí were waiting for the boat, with officers concealed in a camper van style vehicle, and that they then searched the vessel. Advertisement Other searches also took place near the location but nothing was found. It is understood two men were questioned at the scene. Sources have said that neither the Irish Air Corps or the Naval Service were involved in the operation and the Joint Task Force, which handles major drugs trafficking incidents, was also not called up. One source said that the loss of transponder signal on the fishing boat, which appeared to have been sailing off the Cornish coast when contact was lost, may have caused a response from the gardaí. It is understood that the operation did not involve national units and may have been run by gardaí stationed in the mid-west. In a one line statement a Garda spokeswoman confirmed that an operation had taken place and a number of searches had taken place. It is the latest incident in which gardaí were involved in countering suspected drug trafficking on the west coast. In January there was an operation off Kerry and there has also been a number of incidents elsewhere in the country – with a number of people charged and before the courts. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
