Gerard P. Craughwell warns Ireland cannot board shadow ships
Gerard P. Craughwell criticised recent claims that Ireland could board Russian shadow ships and raised urgent concerns about air traffic control staffing. He said boarding such vessels is not possible given current naval capacity and called for ministerial debates on defence and transport.
Naval capability and boarding shadow ships
He said he did not blame the Minister for Defence for a recent radio statement but insisted it is not possible for Ireland to board Russian shadow ships. He noted Ireland has one ship at sea in the Atlantic and another costing £100,000 a week to keep in Cork because it cannot be disposed of following a past drug interdiction. He added the State does not have the capacity to fast rope onto ships and that since mid-24 these shadow ships now have armed guards on board, probably people from the former Wagner group.
Risk to personnel and public statements
He warned of the human risk if boarding were attempted, saying armed guards "have no difficulty whatsoever in killing people," and argued public statements must reflect operational realities. He expressed sympathy for ministers who, newly advised, make public statements at odds with the country's capabilities and urged scrutiny of such advice.
Air traffic control outages and staffing shortages
He described a "critical situation" in air traffic control after Cork Airport was closed for seven hours due to the absence of an air traffic controller, and noted Dublin Airport and the Air Corps had suffered outages linked to controller availability. He said people were unable to get to work and called for ensuring a surplus of air traffic controllers to maintain safe airport operations.
Requests for ministerial debates
He asked that the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Transport be brought in for near-term debates to address defence capability and air traffic control staffing, and asked that those arrangements be organised promptly.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
The Minister for Defence made a statement on radio in the last few days about Ireland boarding Russian shadow ships. Now, I don't blame the Minister. She's in the job a couple of weeks. Somebody somewhere advised her that it would be possible for us to do this. It is not possible for Ireland to board shadow ships. And even if we do, and we find contraband on board, let it be oil or anything else, what do we do with them? The one ship we have is costing us £100,000 a week to keep in Cork because we can't dispose of it. And that's following the drug interdiction some time ago. I truly feel for Ministers that are advised and make public statements which are totally at odds with our capability. We have one ship at sea in the Atlantic. We do not have the capacity to fast rope onto ships. And even if we did, it has been established since mid-24 that these shadow ships now have armed guards on board. Probably people from the former Wagner group who have no difficulty whatsoever in killing people. So I think we do need the Minister in here for a debate on defence. And I would ask that we try and do that in the very near future. One final point I'd like to make while I have a couple of seconds left. And that is the critical situation with respect to air traffic control. We've now had a situation where Cork Airport has been closed for seven hours due to the absence of an air traffic controller. People get sick. People can't turn up to work for whatever reason. Dublin Airport has suffered outages because of air traffic controllers. The Air Corps has suffered outages because of air traffic controllers. This is a situation we've really got to get on top of and quickly. We need the Minister for Transport to come in here and to discuss air traffic control and what measures are being taken to ensure that we have a sufficient number of air traffic controllers. We should always have a surplus of air traffic controllers to ensure the safe management and running of our airports. So those are two ministers that I would like you to try and organise to come in here later and I appreciate your time on that. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
