Naval Service may have to limit number of ships at sea due to shortage of specialist weapons technicians

The Naval Service may have to put out even fewer ships to sea because of a severe shortage of specialist weapons technicians, the Defence Forces Chief of Staff has conceded.

“There are times and occasions where we have a very low number of ships at sea,” Lieutenant-General Seán Clancy said.

He was speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s This week, after reports emerged in the Irish Times that the Naval Service may have to deploy unarmed ships to sea because of the staffing crisis in a special unit.

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The Naval Service’s ordinance section, which maintains all weapons on the eight-strong fleet, is down to just one expert technician.

That section has to certify all weapons on board a ship before it sets out on patrol – from 76mm main guns to pistols and Steyr rifles used by personnel.

It had been suggested that the lack of technicians to certify the weapons would mean ships being deployed unarmed – but Lt-Gen Clancy ruled that out yesterday.

He insisted: “Any ship that goes to sea, will be operationally ready. That includes every element, its weapons and its hardware that is on board that ship.

“Ships we put to sea today are safe, operationally ready and prepared, including their weapons systems".

But he did indicate that fewer ships may now be sent out because of the problem.

The Naval Service recently got two patrol vessels for the east coast, LÉ Aoibhinn and LÉ Gobnait and that means three ships can now go out to sea at any one time. But Lt-Gen Clancy indicated yesterday that number may be reduced.

He said: “We are taking measures to mitigate the risk that are presented to us by the lack of critical skill sets. That risk mitigation means that in some cases we do not put ships to sea.

"And there are times and occasions where we have a very low number of ships at sea because of the personnel and having the abundance of suitably qualified personnel and specialists that we require for those ships to operate at sea.”

However, he insisted: "But at no time will we put a ship to sea that is not safe or operational."

He said that a ship cannot go to sea without key components on it - and the Naval Service was around 30 per cent down on the staff numbers it needed.

The general also said the Defence Forces had turned the corner on recruitment. He said there would be a positive growth in the Defence Forces numbers at the end of this year for the first time since 2017.

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