General
The Ferry Terminal hasn't been sold, some of the internal space has been leased, the Council retain ownership.
Besides, I have it on the good authority of a certain Minister of State that the naval station is a lock-in for Dún Laoghaire, and will be announced at an organised visit of LÉ Aoibhinn, when she is operational later in the year.
no it won’t for a simple reason…It won’t end with just one block for a naval facility, the GRA have already been calling for it for the Dublin based members, how long before blue flue if the NS got such a facility and they didn’t? How long before the teachers unions or the nurses or any of the other far more powerful lobby groups demanded the same? At which point the costs dwarf any value of putting a facility on the East Coast. No government is going to open that can of worms.
The state should look at buying a full developments for front line workers such as HSE,AGS and Defence Forces starting out in there early lifes. It be simply a perk of the Job
The state has been trying to get out of legacies like that for decades (see the housing in the Curragh) besides which that’s a good way to blow a lot of money cause it won’t end at “frontline” workers, not to mention even within the sections you have mentioned where do you draw the line? Is it just newly qualified personnel? A pay threshold? Whether a person is married or not? Family accommodation? Support staff? Etc etc etc.
Either the state becomes a landlord for a huge chunk of the civil/public service or you have rolling industrial action as every section and subsection of the groups make demands on and on. And then you will get the push back from the non public servants…
That you've been told about.
The decision has been agreed between the government parties. DoD, DF and NS will be informed when at the appropriate moment.
I haven't a clue, I don't know how much of the detail has been worked out, but I do know the Council executive is examining the matter of competing demands on the 1845 built Coastguard station, either as accommodation and administration for the Navy, or as part of the national centre of excellence for sailing, which the Council is also anxious to secure with Sport Ireland.
Whatever the outcome I do know there are plenty of options to berth the P70s, as the draft of the central Marina is 4.0 metres and the 70s only need 2.9, so the possibility of using that in much the same way the Revenue Cutters do, certainly exists. It wouldn't take much imagination to isolate a section of the Marina and secure it appropriately, if one of the older piers isn't to be utilised.
I did surely. The combined torque of all of the boats secured on the various jetties, at max capacity, far exceeds that of one 340t vessel.
In any case, as can be seen from this image, the outer jetties have greater capacity and draft. I recall several superyachts berthing at the western end down the years, such as the Phoenix, which though shorter than a P70 at 40m, tipped the scale at 385t and had a much higher centre of gravity with all her luxury appointments.
It is not a problem.
You're only a driver though. I don't think you need to worry about stuff like that.
Obviously the Carlisle Pier is available for secure resupply and any other task requiring a large dockside.
Who knows, maybe the Carlisle itself will be repurposed as a naval station pier. It was certainly suggested many years ago, around the time the masterplan to accommodate the HSS ferries was being drawn up.
As I say, I'm privy to the decision that has been made, not to details that haven't yet even been agreed between the harbour authority and the Defence hierarchy.
P64 parked up in Dún Laoghaire today is it a sign?
would assume nothing will happen until the IPV is operational.
I see marquees and such erected on the pier, probably part of the recruitment events around the coast.
Yes indeed, I'm since informed the marquees are part of the shore based setup for tendering the Cruise Ships.
Afloat is reporting that P71 is meant to sail by the end of the month, targeting the 24th, so we might see some more info on their basing relatively soon:
https://afloat.ie/port-news/navy/item/63163-naval-service-set-to-introduce-first-of-two-inshore-patrol-vessels-this-month-albeit-on-initial-operating-basis?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3C3frA3y0ST65stpjDNNG39K00XB_txDaWU0iF2B_Zxgp_ZAvkXaAThvs_aem_AXZhgYnU3nNm3DGpWdcG4PbK2r0WnM8P69RMu2ocTskgLX5LXsS3y8r3Z0DlgfI4NdJh1EHjVlcOBYSc0UHF5-Ro
perhaps, however I wonder if politics will push for something earlier, I imagine they will want it visible before the next GE.
No heavy weapons fitted yet? Are they going to just go with 12.7mm?
To be honest do they need anything much heavier?
Not like they're about to take on the Bismark!
I guess to wargame her role, she could come up against drug and people traffickers, in MV Matthew or yacht Brime type scenarios. We also hear of homemade submarines involved in the drugs trade too. and in case where the smugglers are becoming better armed, there's no substitute for a big deck gun with remote FC
Are you expecting a homemade submarine in the Irish Sea? Or are we going to be threatening RN subs?
Well the former, obviously.
Drug trafficking mother ships like MV Matthew hand off smaller shipments to yachts and trawlers, as we know, and increasingly to "narco-subs". These vessels can cost a few million dollars to build, but are a canny investment by the drug cartels, as they can return hundred of millions in sales, per vessel.
Examples of these subs that are capable of crossing the Atlantic, have already been discovered.
And so, we can rule nothing out in terms of what the IPVs may encounter. The more nation states invest in security and intelligence around smuggling and trafficking, the more criminals invest in turn. Its a cat and mouse game as old as seafaring.
Emm....The last time I looked, these narco subs are not equipped with torpedoes, deck guns etc.
Of course they aren't, but the banditos inside them carry small arms.
The threat of a remote FC deck gun will end any potential blackguarding before it begins.
I see on the Navys Social Media Eithnes last day is tomorrow as she heads for the scrapyard
-Alfred, the Lord Tennyson.
I was down in the Naval Base a few times in the past and each time when i spoke to POs about eithne they always said in its day it was one of the best naval ships built with world class technolgy onboard. Was that true or was it just old lads with very fond memories?
reports of another russian sub of our west coast again france UK and norway sending aircraft during the week.
HSA were on the naval base at somestage i presume they could not go in without been invited?
Would they have been there due to the external contractors and visiting them happened to see other issues and naval service are just following there advice?
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41414152.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2qh3L2-5bYKsvxdC7xVGO_sSsJKj4aHHuG4guZaX5No4pHyBNMFQWNAMs
HSA can visit any work place, on demand, but usually by appointment and reasonable engagement.
Secure locations are a matter for local rules, but the canteen wouldn't count as a secure location, so they are there quite reasonably.
bars of soap and damp are the least of the H&S issues when you consider it is effectively beside a former toxic dump, contaminated former industrial site and buildings that are falling down …
