New defence powers will be in place by July 1st, vows McEntee

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

Legislation to allow the Irish Naval Service to board ships linked to Russia’s “shadow fleet” will be enacted in time for the start of Ireland’s EU presidency in 10 days, the Minister for Defence has said.

Amendments to the Defence Act were announced in March amid growing concerns about the activities of ships suspected of being part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” and reports of damage to subsea infrastructure in European waters.

Strategically important undersea communications cables lie off the Irish coast, along with gas pipelines and electricity interconnectors.

Currently, the Defence Forces have the authority to enforce certain laws at sea on behalf of other government agencies.

But this legislation will, for the first time, give them specific maritime enforcement powers under the Defence Act.

On Sunday, Helen McEntee appeared on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme and was quizzed on whether the legislation would be ready for the July 1st deadline she set earlier this year.

She said it has passed all stages in the Dáil and is now in the Seanad, adding: “It is absolutely the ambition that this will be done by July 1st, so we’re going through the different stages, and yes, this will be done by July 1.”

The new powers are necessary, she said, so Ireland’s Defence Forces can respond to “new and emerging threats”.

The “shadow fleets” are made up of “large illegal tankers from Russia that are quite literally traversing our waters”, she said.

“Not only are they selling oil that is funding and fuelling the war in Ukraine, but they are also an environmental hazard.

“But also, there are serious questions as to what it is that they are doing in our waters.”

She said she wants defence force personnel to have specific legislation so “they can board, that they can direct, and that they can remove them from our economic waters”.