Ireland - lack of air and naval defence.

It is and likely to be longer tbh, but don’t let that get in the way of a rant. We know the broad figures now for the next budget, we know the talk has been about LoA2(+?) and we know it’s not going to be done in a single year.

Spending at any time has to be relevant. Our history so far, particularly on the Naval scene has been acquisition of ships, some designed for Naval tasks, like corvettes and minesweepers, but all required to "patrol" and fulfil peace time policing duties. Other than P31, which seemed to open up modern capabilities, we continue to opt for patrolling and minimising intervention in Hot situations.

The Metro in Dublin is a wise spend for reasons other than transport. we may have a major shelter resource for thousands of people in time of danger. The Ukranians are blessed with so much underground facilities well hardened under factories.

Budgets once assigned should not be notional or deliberately deflected to non-defence spending. Getting back to relevance please don't buy ships or boats for optical or political reasons. Get out your JANE's and look at other Navies such as the Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Belgians. All new tonnage can float and patrol but it must have a Naval deterrent/intervention capability.

I will be hopefully present, this week, to see P31 decommissioned along with her HOSTAC capabilities and Primary/Secondary radar and IFF, and the loss of 80 or more personnel from the establishment including the skills expensively acquired on overseas courses.

What sort of naval service do we need if we were to invest in grippens or f16s ?

Is it basically just beckets with a radar system and a small anti-aircraft system for self defence ... And a multi-role vessel (or 2 🤔),

Jaysus , are you sure you don't want to chuck an aircraft carrier and a few nuclear subs in there as well . seems a bit ... Ambitious maybe .. again what's the navy for ? .. however I'd agree with designing the future multirole vessel ( s) to be able to be as multi-functional as possible in the future .. wether that's a vehicle deck , capacity to transport multiple Containers hopefully with power supply if needed , or a flight deck/ hanger area or crane ..

I still reckon a large off shore support vessel could fit the bill as a basic design .. they're designed to be flexible ,and to handle the roughest of weather ..

Ok - maybe I went for a bit of hyperbole ,

So we have 6 opvs currently .. ( and can't crew them ) , at least 4 of those could have a flight deck ,and radars added if desired , (the back of a Becket is fairly substantial)

We've 2 inshore patrol vessels coming , ( honestly I'd add the soon to be retired revenue cutters to that , even if only for an skua marra ( still a lot better than what they had a few years back )

We're not likely to get minesweepers , although we could reconfigure at least 2 opvs to be more capable of that role - with a view to being replaced with more purpose designed mine sweeper/ opvs when the time comes ..

And then 1 or 2 multirole vessels ( it'll probably be 1) ? Would they replace existing opvs

But ultimately what would 10 vessels do around our coast ? Especially when the new casas come online soon ?

How many days at sea would the navy want/expect them each to do ?

Would we be better off focusing on making the naval service more attractive for young recruits , with better accomodation options , better college and apprenticeship options , better work/ life balance and career options beyond the naval service ?

I cant find it now but when the Aussie navy first took on this yoke to patrol northern Australian waters they expected it to be at sea over 300 days a year , I've no idea how that worked out either ... Admittedly that was patrolling the northern part of a continent ...

2 casas Aren't enough for what ?

And you're right I had kind of assumed the Irish navy would be largely operating in Irish waters .. although if a vessel were to be used for something like the med mission then great ..

It is timely that an Taoiseach is visiting Ukraine currently, the extent of devastation he sees might go some way to increasing the appetite for adequate defence spending

How much longer is MM in charge ...

Well next Tuesday if Sinn Fein get thier vote.