Taoiseach backs Defence Forces’ call not to shoot down drones during Zelenskiy visit
The Defence Forces took the “correct decision” not to shoot down unidentified drones off the coast of Ireland during an official visit to Ireland by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
He was speaking on Saturday during a visit to Lebanon, where he met Irish peacekeepers at Camp Shamrock, the main Irish base for troops in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), 7km from the border with Israel.
Mr Martin said he had a “very detailed briefing” with Tánaiste Simon Harris and other Ministers last week on the drone incident.
“I think, on the operation response, the correct decision was taken and the correct approach. There is an investigation underway at the moment – obviously, nothing can happen until that is concluded," Mr Martin said.
The Taoiseach said that An Garda Síochána was formally investigating the matter.
“I had a detailed brief with the chief and his team, the Garda Commissioner, in terms of the broader visit of president Zelenskiy, which in terms of security was successful – it’s important to state that.
“The drones did not constitute any danger to civilians in any shape or form.”
The rogue drones, which were launched as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was arriving in Ireland, came as close as 500m to the Irish naval vessel LÉ William Butler Yeats.
However, security sources told The Irish Times last week that the officers of LÉ William Butler Yeats felt that, due to the rules of engagement in place at the time, and the presence of civilian aircraft in the skies above, they could not open fire.
Senior gardaí have privately criticised the Naval Service’s decision not to shoot down the five drones that were spotted hovering around the ship late on Monday night, about 13 nautical miles out to sea in Dublin Bay, according to The Irish Times.
The Taoiseach said he was “absolutely backing” the Defence Forces’ decision not to fire on the drones and that he had “absolute trust in the operational decision making” at the time.
Mr Martin said the incident “reflects a broader pattern of activity across Europe in terms of incidents of this kind”.
“We are not the first country in Europe in recent times to have drones emerging, and it’s an evolving situation. A pattern has developed in various hybrid activities such as issues in the Baltic Sea and we have activity in the maritime space.”
The Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces has also said that his teams did the right thing not to escalate when the drones were spotted during President Zelenskiy’s visit.
Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy told Newstalk that the operational decisions made on board that ship were the right ones.
"We know that president Zelenksiy’s plane had already landed at that time and the crew made a correct and timely decision to deescalate the situation and not to use any force and I just wanted to put that on the record and again to commend the actions of the crew."
